The First Post

Welcome to Small Wonder! First and foremost, I want to say that this blog is really more for me than it is for any of you. I've been keeping a journal (with a varying degree of regularity) since I was 7 years old, but given the somewhat nomadic nature of my life, the shortage of trees on the planet, and the sheer weight of dragging all my journals from home to home, I have decided a digital version would really suit me best.

I began journaling electronically a few weeks ago. I simply email myself in my Gmail account. All of my entries are searchable by date or content, easy to find wherever I am, and conveniently paper-free. The sheer joy I have gotten from being able to look back on my writing so easily led to a moment of inspiration. I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if all my travel writing, public reflections, and random appeals to humanity were consolidated in one place too?" Blogging seemed to be the answer, with the added benefit that I might reach a few more souls and make a couple new friends.

I decided to call my blog "Small Wonder" for three main reasons:

1. "Small Wonder" is the name of one of my favorite books. A love for nearly everything Barbara Kingsolver is something I seem to have inherited from my mom. This book is composed of a series of essays describing things that inspire wonder in the author.
   
2. The driving source of joy in my life, the majority of moments I recall with fondness, and the excitement I feel when I look to the future are all derived from isolated, inherently simple, tangible entities: a fire red sun set, delicious fudge shared with a friend, a tickle fight, spring's first flowers, a clean warm breeze, a soft blanket placed on sore skin, sweet smelling cocoa butter, a kind act by a stranger, a loving hug... I could go on, but I hope you get the point. These are all small wonders.
   
3. "Small Wonder" is a reference to myself. I'm short (small) and I'm awesome (a wonder to many). Plus, I really try to provide "small wonder" moments, as described above, for the people in my life.

As you can see, these three reasons are interrelated, which I believe you will to be a common theme in my writing. I think a lot about many different things, almost against my will. And when my brain is going, going, going, there is not much I can do to stop it. One thing that does help me clear my busy head is finding closure to whatever is occupying my mind. Many times, I have found that the only closure I can create for myself is to retrace the sequence of my thoughts and map out how I got to where I am from where I started. More often than not, this exercise leads me to discover some strange connections between people, things, places, and ideas. And many times, I find that true connections exist among the focus of my thoughts, many of which were not immediately apparent.

I believe in the whole "if a butterfly flaps it's wings..." theory, and I believe in Six Degrees of Separation. I believe that what I did yesterday affects what I will do today. And more than anything, I believe that what I do today will affect what someone else does tomorrow. While the connections aren't always obvious, they are always there. So good luck finding them in these posts, in your life, in history. And if you don't feel like searching for them, that's okay. I'll point some out from time to time.

So this is it. This is my blog. Welcome all.