“Make something that makes a sound on its own.”

At Day 283 of 365 in this journey, precious few times have I “cheated” by not exactly following the prompt and/or incorporating my theme of words. I may cutting it close today; but I don’t feel bad about that.

I spent the day working at communication consulting, which has everything to do with words.

When my daughters got off the school bus, I helped them gussy up for tonight’s Daddy/Daughter Dance, which they attended with both Dad and Step-Dad. To arrange such an event requires diligent and careful use of words … believe me.

The rest of the evening, I sat poolside at my son’s diving meet, next to my good friend Chris—another diving mama. While we watched our boys compete, I mentioned today’s make something theme. Without a moment’s thought, Chris suggested popcorn. What quick, clever thinking! She was right: I could pour some kernels into our air popper and make popcorn, which would make a sound all on its own.

What does that have to do with words? Well, not much, really.

Except that our conversation depended very much on words. Because Chris and I share vocabulary and understanding, she was able to express an idea to me, and I was able to receive it as creative inspiration.

So I came home and made popcorn at 10:15 pm. As the kernels burst and tumbled from the air popper’s yellow shoot, I thought back to my exchange with Chris. We met watching our sons dive. But through conversation, we’ve built a friendship. Truly, I think of Chris as a kindred spirit—a fellow lover of color, ingenuity, and spontaneity—and as a creative collaborator.

And how would I know that, if not for words?