Wonder of Wonder

There are Seven Original Wonders of the World:
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

There are Seven Natural Wonders of the World:
Aurora Borealis
Grand Canyon
Paricutin
Victoria Falls
Great Barrier Reef
Mount Everest
Harbor of Rio de Janeiro

Then there are Seven New Wonders of the World:

Chichen Itza
Christ the Redeemer
The Colosseum
The Great Wall of China
Machu Picchu
Petra
The Taj Mahal

And Seven New Wonders of Nature:
The Amazon Rainforest and River
Halong Bay
Iguaçu Falls
Jeju Island
Komodo Island
Puerto Princesa Underground River
Table Mountain

Now of course anyone could argue any of these lists and there are least another dozens lists out there for the seven wonders of the world: Modern, Ancient, North America, South America, Voted on, Not Voted on, Natural, Man Made…..whatever. The point is, there are lots of lists of Seven Wonders, so, as inspired by Mama Kat’s Pretty Much World Famous Writer's Workshop Prompt #1:

List your life’s Seven Wonders. Describe the most amazing 7 things you’ve seen with your own two eyes.

My Seven Wonders:

1.       At my brother’s wedding, my wedding and my youngest sister’s wedding, I saw all seven of us siblings, our respective families and our parents together…..in one place…at the same time. Do you know how hard it is to get seven brothers and sisters, their families and your parents all in one place at one time?!?! Harder than one might realize! But when we do, well, it certainly is a wonder….

2.       I lived in Illinois for a number of years in the ‘90s. The company I worked for was based in the Chicago area but at some point, I transferred to an Office in central Illinois, in the middle of nowhere. Our office building was located on an old Air Force base. We were right next to an old air field and it turns out, our building was a weather station....it even had weather tower at the top that we could go up in and have lunch or meetings. One day, we were up there for one reason or another (truthfully, we were probably goofing off) and we witnessed a tornado touching down…..un.be.liev.a.ble…..scary, terrifying, breathtaking, beautiful and mesmerizing and WONDERful all at the same time.

3.       My house clean (bathrooms, windows, baseboards, floors, mirrors), fresh linen on all the beds, ALL the laundry washed, folded, ironed AND put away. The bookshelves neat, the pictures that sat on the sideboard for months finally hung on the walls, all Lucy’s toys in one spot and no crayon on the chairs, walls or floor……ok, I have not technically seen this wonder…that is none of these things have happened all at the same time…ok, technically, some of these things have never happened but, I do see this wonder in my mind’s eye a lot….like every time I walk through the front door of the house…..I wonder if it will ever happen…..

4.       We went to England last year and took a tour of the boarding school Sean attended. While we were there, we walked from one end of the campus to another. We visited the administrative building, a couple dorms and class rooms. We went to the Chapel, the Theater, and the Arts Building. We saw more things than I can remember…..but two things on that tour stuck out to me and in my world, were wonders: the original charter of the School and the Founder’s Stone…and both were over 500 years old…..amazing to see in person…..

5.       I grew up in Maine and though I left at a young age and never returned to live, I have a great appreciation for the beauty of Maine: Schoodic Point, Cadillac Mountain, Falling Rock, Chimney Pond, The Allagash, even Phillips Lake takes my breath away. There’s Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and even a blueberry bush in Machias holds a certain amount of beauty to me. Maine has mountains, rocky shore lines, sandy shore lines, lakes, ponds and streams. Maine has blueberries and potatoes, lobsters and moose, deer and loons, whoopie pies and Dysart’s and a big ass statue of Paul Bunyan…Maine: It’s Worth a Visit, Worth a Lifetime…its Where America’s Day Begins and The Way Life Should Be…There’s More to Maine and its Open for Business so my fifth wonder, It Must be Maine

6.       My parents….still married after 7 kids and 44 years of marriage. Still married after the deaths of both sets of (grand) parents, 2 brothers and who knows how many family pets. Still married after good times, bad times, and some tying times. Still married after they both retired and took a cruise together……I’m not trying to be cheeky here…I’m being serious. When I was  growing up, specifically when I got to college and started meeting more people from different walks of life,  and even as an adult, I was one of the few kids whose parents were still together…and had always been together…..and that my friends is a modern day wonder

7.       2004, the World Series won by the Boston Red Sox…….need I say more?

Maria the Mum