Editorial: Little Things, Big Things

Paul Kelly’s song, “From Little Things Big Things Grow” popped into my head while considering this editorial.  Not surprisingly, it is an ideal segue into our April stories, which in one way or another deal with those things that change us. The song also reminded me of my own unwilling change of direction around 12 years ago when a pretty timber cottage (holiday rental) came up for sale. I’d been house-hunting for two years, so I grabbed the opportunity to test the house out by renting it for the weekend. I had a lovely day imagining myself living there and made the decision to buy it. Sometime during the night, half-awake, a coal train squealing past, a weight sunk on to the blanket inches from where I lay (I kid you not). I knew it was facing my way and looking at me. I knew it did not want me there. Yes, I left. No, I did not buy that house.

Would a ghostly visit change your life? How about a convention of ghosts? “The Annual Conference of the Ladies in White” by Stephanie Feldman deals with that occurrence.

Have you ever imagined a little chunk of feta changing your life? Sam F. Weiss’s delightful “The Perfect Brick of Feta” might change your mind. (Available April 8)

Death is a big and permanent change from which there’s no coming back from—or is it? To find the answer read, “On the Anniversary of Your Passing” by Thomas K. Carpenter. (Available April 15)

On the scale of Big versus Little, alien abductions are high on my list of Big, but they rarely rate on the laugh-o-meter until I read “A Midsummer Night’s Abduction“ by Jennie Evenson. I hope her story makes you laugh. (Available April 22)

Our final offering is by FFO alumni Sarah Grey. “The Social Phobic’s Guide to Interior Design“ deftly encompasses how little and big things can be interchangeable and yet transformable.

“From Little Things Big Things Grow” is on still on replay in my head.