In which I consider Fairies and Wonder

“When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.”

― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Felicity is like the fairies of Peter Pan fame. According to Barrie, those little creatures can only hold one emotion in their tiny bodies at a time. When a fairy is happy, she is very, very happy and only happy. When a fairy is sad, then she is very, very sad.

A couple weeks ago, Felicity began smiling responsively. Her little eyes lit up and she’d positively glow. However, those glowing smiles turn almost on a dime into tears—many, many tears. So like a little fairy Felicity only manages to hold one emotion at a time.

More noteworthy then her ability to hold one emotion however, is baby wonder. Felicity is interested in the simplest things. For Felicity, waking up is wonderful. Most of the time it’s filled with smiles. Other times wonder is caused by the light reflecting on the books or the sound of water hitting the shower making her pause and look and listen. Or sometimes wonder is caused when she plays with her blanket, feeling the cloth in her fingers. She gurgles with delight.

This happens between the cries.

In Man Alive, Chesterton waxes eloquent on the wonders of having two legs. Fancy that—we have two legs that can wiggle and walk. Our little girl—our little fairy—reminds me to wonder at the ordinary.

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