At 40, I know I don’t exactly have one foot in the grave. But having walked the Earth for this long, I do have a better appreciation of the here and now. (Better than the clueless, flaky 20-year-old me, anyway.) I now understand that the “here and now” will be “done and gone” just as quickly as it arrived. Better enjoy it while it’s happening!
I guess that’s why lately, I’m finding beauty in the darnedest places.
The other day on MPR, the announcer closed a segment with a musical clip and accompanying statistic about the Owl City song “Fireflies,” saying it was the most-viewed video on YouTube. (Or something like that — I did note it had over 10 million views at one point. That’s a lot, right?)
I immediately liked the sound of it and wanted to hear more — especially since they said it was written in the artist’s parents’ Minnesota basement. So off I went, in the middle of a hectic school-day breakfast, on a merry hunt for what is now our New Favorite Song.
I say “our” because my girls, ages 7 and 3, are now obsessed with it. We downloaded it and play it constantly, and both of them now know it word-for-word. And I have to say, even though it’s simple, the melody is catchy and the lyrics are sufficiently angst-y. But most interesting of all, it seems to have a beautiful, almost transporting effect on my girls. Concentrating, singing, dancing, twirling, asking questions about what this or that phrase means. If nothing else, this song has provided us with a welcome artistic break in the mundane tasks of living.
(Here’s my older daughter, completely absorbed as she sings along, while the younger one rolls her fists, disco-style, and aims a cheesy grin at the camera. Yeah, when you’re three the whole world’s a stage. I guess she’s not too concerned with any deeper hidden meanings. If there are any.)
Now I’m remembering this summer when we took a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (one of our city’s greatest free attractions). It was a rainy day, and I was inspired by a fellow blogger to bring along our sketchpads, crayons, pencils and markers. My goal was to let the girls lead the way, and stop wherever they wanted to sketch what they saw, write a story… or just whine for food. (Let’s be real here, shall we?) I wanted them to experience art as only a child can — without any preconceived notions of how to do it, whether a piece was “important” (and why), or any hang-ups about not knowing “enough” about art history to really “get it.” (Cripes, can you tell who does have hang-ups?)
We had such a great time, and it was eye-opening to let them call the shots about where we went and what we looked at. I could never guess what would capture their attention next — what is beauty to a seven-year-old, or a three-year-old?
I’ll tell you what the smaller one regards as beautiful. (Cringe.) She took this shot on her own. I’m going to call it “Still Life: Cinderella Takes Her Vitamins So That She Can Work Her Way Through College and Begin a Brilliant Career in the STEM Fields.” Or maybe, “Who Needs a Stinkin’ Prince to Save My Sorry Ass?” Sorry, I digress. More on that another day.
(I think she’s wearing Sleeping Beauty’s dress… so I guess that means all the Disney princesses of the household are now getting along, sharing nicely. Of course, I did see a headless body under the couch the other day. So I can’t be sure.)
Not quite sure how I got from fireflies to sexism in fairy tales (in a post about beauty in the little things, no less), but there you go. Where do you see beauty unexpectedly?















My eyes are still seeing palm trees, ocean and sand.