Small things matter

“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.”

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When my siblings and I were small, one of our favourite bedtime stories was The Teeny-Tiny Woman.

“Once upon a time there was a teeny-tiny woman. She lived all alone in a teeny-tiny house. Her teeny-tiny house sat on the teeny-tiny edge of a big swamp. The teeny-tiny woman loved her teeny-tiny house. One day, the teeny-tiny woman decided to go for a teeny-tiny walk. She put on her teeny-tiny scarf and her teeny-tiny shawl…“

It’s a curious and rather eerie story involving a churchyard, a bone and a teeny-tiny voice. How I slept after this one, I’m not sure?

Anyhoo, whether it was Terry Pratchett’s The Carpet People, Arrietty Clock in The Borrowers or the stowaway gnomes in The Gnome-Mobile (1967), the little things, the tiny details of life, I find fascinating.

Someone said “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” I don’t know if I agree.

Small things matter. Small things are sometimes much much ‘bigger’ than the big things.

Perhaps it’s a small person thing? Or have you noticed it too?

It mattered that Hubby brought me a hot cup of tea and a rusk this morning. It mattered that when I pulled over in a narrow road to give another driver right of way, he raised his hand and smiled his thanks. It mattered that I remembered one small irregular French past tense verb (eu – had) in my French lesson last week. It mattered that today I had a day at home to water the pots on our terrace, pick up some dry-cleaning, retrieve Hubby’s lost glasses from where he left them at church and Google bathroom cabinet ideas for our house build in South Africa.

Just a thought.

Take a moment today, as you dream big dreams and face huge challenges, not to let the little things go by unnoticed.

SMALL PRINT:
P.s. You can read the whole story of the Teeny-Tiny Woman here.
P.p.s. If you doubt that small things are actually ‘big’ things, consider the crumb in your bed that you had to get rid of before you could fall asleep or the mosquito that woke you.
P.p.p.s. Regarding crumbs: Hubby says I suffer from the Princess and the Pea syndrome, so apologies if you cannot relate to that one.
P.p.p.p.s. Another small thing that delights me, is when one of you reads my blog and is moved enough to leave me a comment … wink wink, nudge nudge, say n’more.
P.p.p.p.p.s. House build photos coming up next blog!