Reliable slices of joy

One of my reliable slices of joy is colouring in. My daughter’s is drawing.

I am always amazed by the wild freedom young kids show in colouring in – there’s this sense of abandon, of just doing it right now, no matter what it looks like. My daughter is the absolute best at this – she’s like an overflowing well of creativity.

We lose this, as we get older, most of the time, and by adulthood it feels like a concerted effort to colour in just for the joy of it, no matter what it looks like. Not to wait for the right moment, but just to do it now. I think there’s a spirit of slices of joy in there, too – the whole idea is that we’re not waiting for Some Big Thing or The Right Moment, but living out loud, in full colour, here, now. So feel free to colour in as terribly or messily as you like – I don’t mind.

My attitude towards all of this is influenced, of course, by my mom’s sudden death. She was perfectly healthy, then a little tired, then diagnosed with four different kinds of cancer and died within two weeks. It burned into me a sense that we really shouldn’t be saving up all the good stuff for Later (whenever Later mythically arrives).

Burn the scented candles now. Use the fancy plates. Tell people you love them. Uncover slices of joy every. single. day.