Small Things

 

I live in San Francisco, a city known for street art, stenciling, sign repurposing, graffiti, tagging, yarn bombings and lots of sidewalk soapboxing by way of chalk paint. On my way home today, one of those read “Practice the Wonder of Small Things.” I thought about it for the rest of my journey. Not so much about what small things I wonder about, but just what constitutes a “small thing.” A drink at your favorite bar? A new song that changes your outlook? Getting the band back together? A perfect taco? A new car? A child? Making it through a month without losing your mind? What is small to one person might just be monumental to another. 

  

After chiding myself for taking this to a place more metaphysical than material, I realized that the message was my small thing. Not what it said, but what it was.

 

I am the noticer of litte adornments in my world. I am the one to notice strange statuary, oddly placed paintings, funny notes, clever decorations and like things all throughout the city. My friends comment on it all the time. How I seem to be able to find these little treasures while they are blissfully unaware.

 

I love these artistic expressions found on almost every surface of the city. I know that many people prefer to live in communities where walls and sidewalks are spic and span, but for me I can't imagine living somewhere where art (even with it's property defacing tendancies) didn't exist.

 

What's your small thing?

 

EB

Comments

[Victoria]

I got Reed & Barton sterling silver flatware in 1984 and chose the just released English Chippendale pattern. As time went on, I fell in and out of love with other patterns. One pattern I fancied was Old Colonial because the bowls on the spoons are fluted and unusual.

But you don't buy silver the way you buy a pair of shoes, and I was never prepared to divorce English Chippendale.

When I was cleaning the kitchen flatware drawer out in my childhood home in 2007 after my father died, among the battered pieces of stainless steel, much to my surprise I found a little teaspoon, tarnished black. It was sterling silver Old Colonial. How it came to be there, I have no idea. But I polished it up, and every morning I use it to stir my tea. It makes me think of my mother, and I love the shot of heat that comes all the way up the handle.

That's my favorite small thing.

[EB]

What a perfect, lovely thought! I like that it is literally small, but holds so many large memories.