When I made the bowls, I glazed a test bowl. A mix of blue and pellegreeno. Finding it today on the shelf was such an unknown joy. Joy that felt just right. In my hands I held a little tide pool.

Last year a group of girls in my classroom would regularly give birth. They held the soft dolls in their small arms, soothing the toys until growing bored and assigning someone to act out the role of baby. They made sense of a new sibling or, in one girls case, twins. Play helped them process.

My grandmother died in a hurricane. I can say that, the truth isn’t contradictory. My grandmother was on a hospice bed, riddled with cancer of the blood, surrounded by her three children. They bunkered down, for the storm and her end. I thought about that as I drove over tonight.

this sparks joy