Gobs... Whimsical and Eccentric

I was wondering if anyone else's child has coveted piles of intricately, curated objects.  Wonderfully these "found things" make their way into my trash without my middle child knowing.  I find them in corners, in pockets (or the washer), in boxes, in cups, in bags, under the bed... she litters our home with small treasure piles (please refer to the list below).

I acknowledge that she is finding the beauty in the mundane, and at one point I felt guilty discarding or recycling some of these items I happen upon.  In a neurotic fit she will cry for five minutes when she knows her treasure trove has been raided, but she quickly gets right back at it again.  I think there is a small lesson in all of this collecting of data and holding on to small moments and memories:  

1. Maybe if we all take a second and look at the very small things we will appreciate their beauty.  Each one of these items has a back story; has some sort of history or adventure attached to it.  Maybe when she handles them and examines them (as I sometimes catch her doing), she is thinking about how this object came to miss this part or be disfigured in this way.

2. Maybe each one of us is like those collected and relatively damaged items that my daughter brings together.  Each of us is at some point emotionally, physically or psychologically broken.  But maybe our creator puts us in gobs (families, friendships, communities) to enhance our beauty and create a wonderful and temporary treasure.

I have no clue what she is thinking about when she makes the piles.  I still throw them away, but I do know that now I take a second to examine these "broken things" before I pitch them.  They deserve that much.


Here are just a few things I've found around the house:

• a penny with the face scratched off
  
• broken glass
  
• cigarette butts
  
• bottle caps
  
• toilet paper rolls
  
• broken pencils
  
• safety pins
  
• paper clips
  
• tacs
  
• beads
  
• buttons
  
• doll heads
  
• random small broken plastic
  
• doll shoes
  
• clippings
  
• stones
  
• chewed gum
  
• old stickers
  
• folded tape
  
• old crayons
  
• marker or pen tops
  
• lint
  
• thread
  
• yarn
  
• dry noodles
  

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