Like many things on this earth, it looks best up close. The details spring to life. The greens reveal themselves.
And, as with so many things the seven-year-old likes to make, it was spontaneous. "Let's make a terrarium!" Before I could mention research, or necessary supplies, she was gathering up the potting soil and rummaging for an empty glass container.
She uprooted her solo succulent; she collected mosses from our property; she pulled tiny cones from the nature shelf. She dumped in the dirt, and with gentle hands she patted in the plants.
I know there are books that would tell us how we should have done a terrarium (we'll see how the various plants adapt to their new home). I know there are colored stones and glittering sand that we could have purchased. I know that we could have tried to make a more dynamic arrangement. But why? Why not embrace what we have, and see what it will become?
The world, in miniature. The forest, cupped in her hands. The magic of making beauty: of finding beauty in small places.
