the clear sense of beauty

for a long while, and for likely many reasons; observing man-made material things around me has been a source of stress in my life. i like simple, uncluttered surroundings. the ability of my mind and of my being to fluently function almost feels threatened by the diffused presence of unnatural objects. the spaces in our home that i most enjoy are uncomplicated, transparent spaces that hold only things that i understand as either very useful or brazenly beautiful. e&e’s room is different. they, too, have relatively few things in their space, but these few things are…everywhere. i find myself altogether avoiding it some days. last night, however, i walked in to check on them while they were sleeping. glancing around, i immediately felt unease. with a mindful push to stay, i invited myself—amidst the barely lit expanse—to sit down on the floor and to really take it in. elaborate lego towers, not-so-elaborate lego scatterings, glue sticks, scissors, colored pencils, crayons, sheets of paper with drawings and starts of drawings, books, hand-made books, a myriad of recyclable paper scraps, staged dinosaur on-goings, two forts, blanket islands…and one seemingly strategically placed pile of clothing that should probably be washed.
with brevity, they are things; yes.
with more time, they become stories—imaginative creations; THEIR imaginative creations.
i walked in with the sense of unease.
i walked out with the clear sense of beauty.
—♥.—