Small Events Are Our Lives

Small Events Are Our Lives (Day 21 of 31)

Small events are great. I’ll never forget my older daughter’s first snowman, which I helped her build the winter she was, I think, two. I’d been telling her about snowmen, describing beforehand what they were like and how much fun we would have building one. When the snow arrived, we were ready. She and I made it right by the back door, at the top of the steps; it was about nine inches tall.

It’s a treasured memory, and one that still makes me laugh. My tiny daughter, patting little handfuls of snow in place to make this mini guy. The whole operation probably took four or five minutes, and then we were done.

If I could go back to that house in Toronto and stand on that back porch, it would give me profound pleasure to be at that spot and say, to her and to myself, Here’s where we built your first snowman.

Small pilgrimages—the tiniest, the most local—are not to be underestimated. Here’s where the porcupine was. This is where you got stung by the bee. Here’s where you slept outside in the tent for the first time.

These small events are our lives. These places are where our lives happened, and are happening still. In the words of Gord Downie, “No dress rehearsal, this is our life.”

(For the month of October 2017, I’m participating in the 31 Days bloggers’ challenge. You can find out about it here, and check out the interesting work other bloggers are posting.)