For the Love of Sparkly Things

I can't resist things that sparkle. It's a hangover from childhood, I guess, but my eye just can't help but gravitate toward sparkly things...from rocks on a lakeshore to bits of cut glass.

Tonight one of our honorary little neices came by. She's four, and tonight I showed her a few of my favorite "sparkles" from the china cabinet. I have a few sentimental pieces of Swarovski crystal that my Grandma gave me, and a bowl of sparkling beads--the kind you fill can use to fill a flower vase with. The look in her eyes when she saw these "diamonds" reminded me of how I felt at that age--the simple wonder of seeing something shimmer. I was confident that they had to be filled with hidden magic. When I held a sparkly bead to my eye, and saw the fractured mirror images, edged in rainbows, I was sure I was seeing into a magical world...if I could only reach it.

We lose too much magic when we grow up. Maybe I keep some sparkly bits around me just in case I'll need to snag a bit of magic someday. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the glitter and glow.