Slice of Life: What Did You Fall In Love With Today?

One of my favorite podcasts is Krista Tippett’s On Being. Recently, artist Maira Kalman was Krista’s guest. During their wide-ranging conversation, Kalman explained that “The subject of my work is the normal, daily things that people fall in love with.” Krista then asked “Have you fallen in love with something today?” Kalman had quite a list of items she’d fallen in love with that day. It was quite an uplifting, illuminating moment. It also got me thinking. What have I fallen in love with lately?

We have been renovating and adding on to our house for more than a year. It’s exhausting living in a construction zone, but I’m well aware of the first-world status of this problem and try not to complain. Now the end is in sight. So I went furniture shopping. I had an idea for what I wanted, but I also had an open mind. I found a lovely chair covered in soft, deep blue upholstery with a jacquard floral pattern. You sink into it. There is room to curl up. I fell in love with it the minute I sat down.

I also fell in love with a small flock of robins was darting and diving in and out of the trees that surround our school’s parking lot. They seemed to be dancing in pure joy.

A little later, I fell in love again with the color of the sky at dusk. The horizon was the deep pink of  flamingo feathers and gradually lightened to the shade of cotton candy. Who would not fall in love with such sights, which Natalie Babbitt calls “those commonplace marvels” which the world “spreads so carelessly before us everyday?”

What did you fall in love with today?

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Kelsey, Melanie, and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and each Tuesday throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.