Little Wonders - A Challenge

Hello Friends,
In case you didn't know this - I love Rob Thomas.  No, the feeling isn't mutual.  In fact, I'm fairly certain that he doesn't know I'm alive.  And I know that he's married, which makes him not my type anyway.  But if he ever wanted to serenade me, I wouldn't turn him down.  (As I write this, I'm listening to the title cut from Cradlesong.  Love it, love it, love it.)

But what does any of that have to do with the Hometown Tourist?

Not much, really - except that another Rob Thomas song has been going through my head lately as I drive to and from work and run errands in my neighborhood.

It started on the day I noticed a whole family of snowmen in my neighbor's yard.  They were all decked out in brightly colored hats and scarves and lined up to wave at passersby.

And it continued when I was driving west one evening and saw a grove of trees whose bare limbs were set ablaze with the brilliance of the setting sun behind them.  Just above them, a flock of birds were flying in perfect formation.  The temperature couldn't have been above twenty degrees, and snow gleamed white in the field, but those birds flew with all the assurance in the world toward that grove of trees.  Perhaps the sunset was keeping them warm.

And every morning as I go to work, the sky outdoes itself again.  Oranges, purples, pinks, and hazy blues in every shade.  The clouds only add to the splendor, bringing new swirls and whirls of color in fascinating shapes.  Someday, I will leave my house early enough to stop and take pictures on the way.

But as I drive, craning my neck and using my mirrors to see as much of the sunrise as possible, I think about Marcel Proust and Rob Thomas.

Proust wrote, "The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." 

And Rob Thomas?

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain 

"Little Wonders" is the song that I think about when I'm suddenly confronted with something amazing in the midst of an ordinary day.

And I think Proust had it right.  We don't need long voyages as much as we need new eyes to see the wonder around us.  That is, after all, what being a Hometown Tourist is all about, right?

So here is my challenge to you...  Keep your eyes open wide for a little wonder.  It might be something in nature, a moment that you share with a child, or a random act of kindness that you see.  It could be anything.  Look for those moments.  And when you find them, would you please share them with me?  I would love to enjoy them with you.  (Or vicariously through you - I'm really being selfish, but pretend you didn't hear that.)  And if you happen to get a picture, be sure to include a link in your comment.

Hope to hear from you soon.

God bless.