“What a world, to have sparrows in it!”
That's a line in Brian Doyle's A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of the Miracle & Muddle of the Ordinary.
The math doesn't add up, but my favorite chapter title in that book is probably, “Prayer for the Elderly Woman on the Train Eating One Almond Every Five Minutes for Two Hours for a Grand Total of Forty Almonds and Believe Me I Counted, Fascinated.”
I have yet to count the number of almonds a stranger is eating on a train, though I might if the opportunity presents itself, but I have made an effort to see something and think to myself, “What a world, to have ________ in it!”
Doyle is exceptionally good at reminding me to appreciate all that life has to offer. With that in mind:
What a world, to have…
…a great-uncle that I hadn't seen in over a decade and was able to spend time with and look at old family photos with
…cousins that I hadn't seen in even longer than that
…koi ponds and fish water pitchers and 1913 Edison phonographs
…an important person to me that fended off cancer in a way that makes me hope I could have that kind of strength and spirit under such trying circumstances
…high school friends that I hadn't seen in over 25 years and on one hand it felt even longer than that, but on the other it felt like yesterday and I hope I see them again before another quarter of a century passes
…laughing children
…whippoorwills that sing their song at 3am when you're outside because you thought it was a good idea to get a dog a few years ago and now the dog is outside at 3am eating grass and the dog can be forgiven if there is a whippoorwill to keep me company
…the sound of a Hammond B3 organ
…the morning sun casting its light on my wife's face
…canned bread, I don't quite understand why you would put bread in a can, but I like that someone thought outside of the bread bag and they they used their genius to put bread in a can instead of for evil
…in it.
“Do we ever stop and pray enough for the wealth of small things that are not small at all? We do not. But we do now.”