That Big Grey Thing

Watching a baby's eyes light up with wonder, delight and curiosity is one of the best parts of being a parent (and yes, I said yesterday that I would write less about my son's exploits, and less about motherhood, so that I could return to a focus on more obscure thoughts...thoughts that normally occupy the background of my life; but there it is, I can't help it: sometimes my son takes up the background as well as the foreground). Today, watching him discover a huge grey exercise ball--slapping one palm against it while balancing precariously on his little feet and opening his mouth wide in excitement--filled me with a profound sense of the possible. We all need that Big Grey Thing in our lives.