Surprises

A year or so ago, as the dentist was working on my teeth, I studied some hidden-word puzzles on the ceiling, and soon, as the drill droned on, I was thinking of other hidden surprises in my life, the little wonders that wait by the thousands for me to find them. As I thought about it, it seemed possible that all the moments in a day are made of useful surprises, small shocks that have the power to uplift a life. A day could be compared to a puzzle in which wonders wait beneath the seemingly humdrum happenings. I thought perhaps I could be like a scout searching a wilderness of secret treasures. As the dentist did his work, my day-to-day life started to seem like a stirring escapade, a journey among unseen jewels and gems. They were just words hidden among letters on the dentist’s ceiling, but they helped me have a look into the fortune-filled life I’m lucky to be living, even when I’m lying back in a dentist’s chair. 

I saw lots of surprises on our morning walk today on Napatree Beach in RI.- small bombshells and amazements that kept me somewhat astonished for the entire walk:

… some wild, wavy clouds in the west …

… the skeleton of a large sea turtle …

… the remains of what looks like a young shark …

…. and some rickety old man named Hamilton placing a stone on a cairn.