Written for GBE2.
Everyone wonders about something at some time; usually it is mundane things like "Do they really do anything in Congress?", "Why do you hit 'start' to close down your computer?", "Why do you have new updates immediately after updating about any electrical device?, etc. Of course my favorite for the last couple of months is wondering "How a newborn can be so peacefully asleep until you start to walk to bed and then is as awake as a Starbucks addict?"
A sense of wonder is a different thing altogether and all children have it. This is a sense of being so surprised and excited by the world around you that that the joy and wonder show on your face. My 4 year old grandson showed a small example of this as we walked into his garage and were hit by a strong wind, he stated, "Wind, I didn't expect that!" He nailed it on the head, the sense of the unexpected and marveling at the surprises of the day.
As a really older person, I have come to hope that I can keep artfully holding on to my sense of wonder. As you travel through life and have many experiences, a large majority of them repeated, I believe you become blasé and too sophisticated for "wonder". I try daily to guard against that and try to see things with "new eyes". I was lucky to be there before my granddaughter was born in November and have the wonder at her looking up at me a day after she had been travelling solely with mom. The wonder of birth is easy, though, most people are touched by that.
I like to sharpen my sense of wonder on the HUGE snow globe on someone's lawn or the pink flamingoes at city hall, a stranger being unexpectedly courteous, a friend saying something you never realized about them in all the years you've known each other and my husband being truly pleased with a gift I gave him. As we boomers get older we need to try as hard as possible to hold onto our sense of wonder or we will lose a major component in the enjoyment of life.
MERRY CHRISTMAS READERS.
