Spontaneous Wonder

January 18, 2022

By Ellen Nieslanik

At first I thought I may have mumbled or spoken too quickly, given the far away look in his eyes when I posed the question, so I asked again, only this time more slowly and emphatically.

“Do you have high-fat buttermilk?“ I asked, making sure to enunciate my words clearly. He continued to stare blankly through me, so I paused a moment

“I’m sorry sir, do you work in the dairy department?” I asked, deciding start at square one.

“Yeah,” he responded. Now we were getting somewhere.

“Okay great, I’m looking for this high-fat buttermilk I use for baking, “ I explained. “I’ve gotten it here bef....”

“Don’t know,” he interrupted. Shrugging his shoulders and raising his palms upward, as he backed away.

“We’ll, can you tell me who might know?” I asked, a little annoyed by now.

“Nope,” he responded, turned and walked away.

Part of me wanted to grab him by the ear and give him a lecture about taking pride in his job, but instead I stood stunned and watched this pitiful ambivalent young man trudge away. I didn’t know his story, his struggles or his pains, but part of me couldn’t help but wonder where had the wonder had gone in his life.

Whoah did I need a reset, and life experience and memory-lane are both fabulous places for me to find the reset button. So …….as I drove home I did just that. I found two small examples of spontaneous wonder which I’ll share with you from simpler days— both examples this time with Jake our middle guy.

The first wonder reset memory takes me back to January 1999, a year that started with great promise as our beloved Denver Broncos were in the playoffs and likely headed to the Super Bowl for a second time. Jake, then 6, was totally into it, and his love for the Broncos moved to obsession when Santa Clause delivered a John Elway uniform for Christmas, just weeks earlier. Complete with shoulder pads and helmet, Jake literally lived in his uniform and number 7 jersey those weeks following Christmas. My job was to make sure it was clean and ready for each Bronco playoff game. Sometimes that was tricky because Jake also slept in his beloved uniform.

It was a grey rainy Oregon morning and Jake was all a buzz with excitement for the Broncos last playoff game. His was suited in his uniform, nerf football in hand, dodging in and out of anyone and anything as if running a phantom play pattern, and then tossing is nerf ball in the air.

“Hey Mom,” he mused as he came through the kitchen. “It would be sooo, so, so so great if I had some thigh pads to go with my uniform!" I told him maybe Santa could bring those next year.

Jake then disappeared into the bathroom for a long while. I could hear him rattling around in the cupboards and he finally emerged fully clad with thigh pads.

"These are awesome Mom! Why didn’t you tell me you had these? You just peel off the back and stick them to your legs, and POW! you have thigh pads,” Jake squealed with delight as he did a play-fake across the kitchen.

On closer inspection I saw on the floor the tape from the peel and stick side of my super-duper (post childbirth) Kotex pads. He was thrilled!! Now that’s resourceful. I just wonder how many times he looked around the house for something that might work for thigh pads before he spied these hummers and wondered himself into a solution.

My second example was two yeas later. Jake was 8 and we were living back in Meeker, which meant a trip to Grand Junction was like a trip to the big city which offered a whole new set of wonderments for my ranch kids. On this particular trip I only had Jake with me. We stopped off at Home Depot for a few things, and Jake had to use the bathroom. At 8 he assured me he was big enough to use the mens bathroom alone, and he sure wasn’t coming in the women's bathroom with me. I conceded and waited anxiously outside as he disappeared into the confines of the mens bathroom. First ten then fifteen minutes passed and no Jake. Several male customers entered and exited the men's bathroom as I watched for Jake and time ticked away. There was no sign of him and now I was getting worried. I was just about to call store security, when Jake came bounding out the door smiling ear to ear.

"YEESSS!!,” he said, as he jumped high in the air and landed both feet firmly planted on the floor and giving me the "thumbs up" sign.

"It was sooooo awesome Mom, you should have seen it. I got all, I mean all, of the automatic toilets and sinks going at the same time,” he gleamed. “Whoooo-wheee!”

Oh that kid… I can still visualize him running down along all the stalls, opening the doors to activate the toilets while then running back along the sinks, hands under the nozzles to get them going. It obviously took him a while to choreograph the whole production, but it must have been quite a show. Come to think of it I didn’t ask him if he washed his hands.

I pulled into the driveway, refreshed and “reset” and so grateful for this bank of memories. So next time you drift towards a place of complacency and ambivalence I challenge you to get all the toilets going the same time at Home Depot or get resourceful when needing a wardrobe adjustment. You just might be surprised how an ounce of spontaneous wonder can change your day.