It’s the way her eyes opened up as her gaze fixated on the actors and actresses in the play. That’s what reminded me again.
This past week my daughter and I attended a children’s play, a rendition of Alice In Wonderland. My daughter’s first exposure to the theater left her mesmerized. She focused on the colorful costumes, the voice of the Queen of Hearts, and the way the characters sang and dance across the stage. At one point, I thought I heard her say, “Oh my goodness!” while she tried to extend her hands to ensure the certainty of what she was experiencing. As she shuffled back and forth in her seat, she appeared overcome by wonder. It is something that always hits me by surprise, the constant amazement she expresses by what I almost always take for granted.
She wonders about the wholly ordinary. Double rainbows in the sky, the way that water and sand can make castles, and still, even at age six, how the sky can eat up a balloon. As adults, we succumb to the details. The “busyness” of our lives kills our propensity to wonder. Our natural inclination is to hurry. How many moments of wonder have I missed? And why is it so hard to pause and embrace what is in front of us?
Since witnessing her wonder, I am paying attention. I am beginning to reacquaint myself with wonder. In the last few days, my eyes have darted to the sunset behind the mountains, marveling at the how the hues of the sky turn blue to purple and pink within an instant. I look at the cacti in a neighbor’s yard and wonder how a singular flower can be in full bloom in the midst of several thorns. There are other moments of awe – the cadence of our breath or how are skin can heal from a paper cut or how our bodies can move in and out of rest and work within a few milliseconds. It is these flashes, these little moments of wonder that we must hold on to while we can. The drudgery is there in the day-to-day, but these little flecks of sparkle, of absolute wonder is what, I believe, more and more, that can sustain us.
Hold on to wonder while you can.
Image by Axel-D
Welcome! I am a lawyer turned freelance writer, essayist, and editor. On staff at Literary Mama and the co-founder and co-editor of the literary journal, The Sunlight Press, my essays and reported work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily, Saveur, Civil Eats, Brain, Child, ESPN and elsewhere. I am currently at work on a memoir on grief and culture and how it provides perspective on life’s ordinary graces. I invite you to appreciate the ordinary with me. I hope my daily practice of seeing the magic in the mundane helps you celebrate and find more of these moments in your life too.
What a stunning photo. I agree. Children have the most wonderful way of not taking life and the world for granted, and marvel at everything. At what point did we lose that? I am constantly rushing us through life. This is why I love being with my son – he’ll slow me down, and let me see things I’ve failed to notice long ago.
So much beauty and wonder when we view life through the eyes of a child.
One of the loveliest gifts our children give us is the capacity to rediscover wonder.
The challenge is hanging onto it, in the adult world.
My son always inspires me when I see him fully engaged in the moment, in his life. And I think it’s a good sign that I notice because,as you point out, it’s so easy t oget caught up in the hustle.
The drudgery is there in the day-to-day, but these little flecks of sparkle, of absolute wonder is what, I believe, more and more, that can sustain us.
Hold on to wonder while you can……………
Great way to end this post. My sons inspire me to see the wonder in everything and in their laughter and through their eyes. Easy to lose sight of it but so great when we have it.
Perhaps it’s when we let go of holding on that we re-enter child-mind and the world fills with wonder in every eternal moment?