Small Things
A small thing, a blackberry blossom, gives much and promises more.
A small thing, a blackberry blossom, gives much and promises more. It is such a delicate thing, hiding beneath the creeping ficus that covers the wall beside my house. Its black anthers, laden with pollen, and swollen green stigma nestled in the heart of the bloom and hold its silent promises. They bespeak deep purple berries later in summer, and I do love them, the ones that the birds don’t run off with. Traipsing around to find them is a small chore, but an afternoon’s delight. Small things, seemingly insignificant things, do enhance our lives. Mine, at least.
And in times like this, so many insignificant things, seemingly insignificant things, add up. A combination of small things on their own add up to become something that fills the heart. A flamenco melody, for instance, is filled with thousands of guitar notes, each note on its own sweet, but together, they make the feet and heart move. A single stitch of thread on its own does not hold much, but thousands of them become the coziest jeans or lounge wear for these long days. A grain of salt or spice on its own does not add much to any meal, but add more and they change the sensation of every bite. Many small things together change our good experiences, making them great.
It works this way with not so good things too. A drip from the faucet, just one drip, goes unnoticed. But drip after drip, minute to minute, hour after hour, can make it hard to concentrate on anything else. One drip promises nothing, but many together reveals a problem and promises more problems. A small tapping sound in the car, just one or two, and we can ignore it. But let them come by the hundreds or thousands, and we may have engine problems. Something not to be ignored. And just one or two virus particles, just one or two respiratory droplets, and the concern may be beyond notice, but let them come by the hundreds or thousands and our lives are in danger. Small things do change our lives when they come in sufficient doses to matter.
Sometimes the bad small things are interruptions to my life and other times in other circumstances, they can make life unlivable. Or at least it seems so. So, avoiding them matters.
And it matters also that we find and embrace the good small things in our lives. Imagine our lives without them. What would life be like without grains of salt, or grounds of coffee or tea, or droplets from a sprinkler in summer, or the words in a poem, or the blackberries with breakfast, or the drips of condensation on the outside of a glass of ice water on a hot summer afternoon?
Small things, I love them, especially when life only has room for small things. In times like now, for me, they become essential.