The World is Full of Wonder

[nandm]

Thought this was worth sharing as a reminder to each of us what is truly important in life as the New Year approaces.

My eleven-year-old daughter is still losing her teeth.
"Guess what, Dad!!!!!"
"Well, let's see...are you getting married?"
"No," she giggles.

Then she shows me that she's placing yet another enamel chunk, a proxy for a future credit card purchase under her pillow. "So, what's the Tooth Fairy going to bring me this time?" she asks.
"How about Bill Gates for a new dad?"
My daughter's last tooth earned her a ruby and diamond encrusted gold rolex watch--well, not really, it was from the Wal-Mart Signature Collection at 50% off---but on my income, it was a splurge.

Still, I'm not complaining.
I remember when I was a kid, a thousand and fifty years ago; I awoke one Saturday morning to find a much-longed-for baseball mitt hanging on my bedpost. It was the same glove I'd been dreaming of, the one I'd been pleading for, promising never to ask for anything ever, ever again if only my parents would buy it for me.

But my parent's had repeatedly told me NO---that's right, in loud capital letters---because they said they couldn't afford it.

And yet, when I found it magically hanging there, courtesy of the Tooth Fairy---or so they told me---it turned that Saturday into the happiest and most memorable day of my young, innocent life.

My 11-year-old daughter, though, says she doesn't believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, leprechauns, or little elves. She says she's too old to believe in fairly tales. But I know better. She does. We all do. We have to. Our dreams, fantasies, and wild musings are our pots of gold at the end of reality's rainbow.

Sure, my daughter knows that the Tooth Fairly is just me playing a game, hiding a gift under a pillow. But she also knows, way deep down, that under her pillow, behind closed eyes, is a winsome, mystical place of good and kind thoughts. It's where she keeps her never-to-be-lost wonderment and innocence---the same wonderment and innocence we all keep and cling to. Some of us may hold to it secretly, some overtly, and some just need to be reminded how and where to find it again.

Whenever I suspect I've lost that sense of wonder, I think of a child's gleaming smile and tight squeezing hug. It's in a giggle, a kiss, a dollar found on the sidewalk. It's in a butterfly fluttering delicately across a green lawn. It's in a ladybug crawling on your finger. It's in a warm handshake, a heartfelt thank-you, an unretrunable favor. It's in a misty morning sunrise and a spreading fire sunset. It's in the pleasure of giving. It's in a seed sprouting into a flower. And it's in a Wal-Mart watch found under a pillow where a tooth was placed the night before.

By Barbara Densa
From the book: 50 Truths Worth Knowing

May wonder and all the blessings that come with it be a part of your life in this coming year.
Judith

[indigo]

Good lesson to be learnt from that, thank you for humbling me today.