[Ed Note: When I set out on this journey it was to task myself with regular creative writing. Little did I know (ah, those words would sink a flotilla) how much research would be involved to support what I imagined to be relatively minor efforts. A very loud, collective “Ha!” is heard from the Experienced Ones in the audience. All of this to say, I learned so much more than I ever need to know about human senses and their number. So, “yes, yes,” there are great debates over the sense labeled “#6, but I am taking liberties…”]

One of my favorite bits in literature is from “Lord of the Rings,” wherein Samwise is overcome with wonder at the prospect of meeting (and then actually being with) the Elves. I felt that same feeling the first time I saw giraffes move across the countryside in South Africa — that gentle, almost hypnotic, graceful flow for such a huge being. Not that I wouldn’t also like to meet Elves, I’m just a bit more centered in my reality than that…. (I hear you. Be quiet.)

I also love Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance;” it’s been an anthem for me throughout my adult life.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted

And so I relish, cherish and embrace those moments of wonder when they spontaneously come upon me in life.

We live on the side of a steep canyon wall in the coastal mountains of West County, Sonoma. In the heavily-forested hillside above our house, a heard of deer make their nighttime home (some years this is a doe and her fawns, sometimes it is multiple young bucks and does and fawns – I do love familial diversity). We hear them at various times of day as they come and go across our driveway to the creek at the bottom of the hill. Sometimes we see them just at the bend in the road standing backlit against the golden afternoon sunlight pouring through the forest canopy. And often when we are on the road walking with our small dog he will stop and listen with great intent. Then we will hear them moving slowly through the underbrush and from time to time we will even glimpse them. The three of us will stop, stand in silence, and listen in wonder as these gentle beasts move quietly about us.

I have no doubt that this is how Samwise felt the first time he encountered Elves in the forests of Middle Earth. I hope we never ever lose this sense of wonder.