This morning, I had to wait an unexpected hour for my job to be ready at the printer’s. So I went to the grocery store at the unusual (for me) time of 9:15 am. On the drive over, I was listening to a heated debate about the gun control issue, in the wake of recent mass shootings. The sky was starting to fill with soft grey clouds, and the air was cooling.

When it came time to choose which aisle to stand in with my small basket of items, I was drawn to the further and slightly longer aisle with the young girl (age 3?) in the cart seat. On some level, I reasoned, if I’m going to stand idly by while the world slowly churns onward, I might as well take in the face of a child.

She was a quiet soul, with big brown eyes and pigtails. For a moment, she seemed to play a subtle game of hide and seek, peeking out one round eye from behind a hand. Her mother - clearly pregnant with a next - looked back and remarked on how quiet her child was being. She was amazed at her calm just then.

The clerk then motioned for the bright yellow balloon swaying behind her shoulder. “Would she like a balloon?”. The mother gave an emphatic, “Yes!”, stating that “balloons are a hot commodity in our house”. The girl didn’t seem to grasp what was happening until the balloon was suddenly in front of her.

The delight! The utter and overwhelming sense that the world is a beautiful place, filled with magical things! I was transfixed. I too sat in silent awe - not at the balloon, but at the joy of a child. How profound, those early joys are. How could our world be so much better if we made more space for just these things?

We all have something, even as adults. Whether it’s cats, dogs, butterflies, and even musical instruments. Those symbols that speak to us of pure delight and unbridled joy. This month, PalomaPottery.com is featuring a special on just these novelties and symbolic gifts that call us back to earlier joys. Magnets and keychains in a wide range of shapes and symbols. Small treasures of delight.

Even, or maybe especially, when the world shows us big and seemingly insurmountable problems, it is deeply therapeutic to remember the simple joys. Because, as the wise child knows, isn’t that really what life is about?