Just Right and not Enough

This is a short riff on the power of words.

We say them, we read them, we need them, and sometimes we can't find them.

There was a word I remember from the pandemic.

It came up somewhere in 2021 in an article that was being passed around at the time.

The word perfectly described how I and many others were feeling at the time.

It was just right.

The word was languishing.

***

A friend of mine once said a word that perfectly described what it's like to parent young kids.

She mentioned this word over five years ago, and at times it still rings true for my wife and I.

That word was relentless.

It was just right.

***

Not that long ago, I watched a video that my wife had taken of me holding our daughter when she was probably a year and a half old.

She was pointing to something in our kitchen and asking me for it, and I was gently telling her that she couldn't have it.

It may have been chalk. I can't exactly remember.

I do remember that feeling of holding her and the look on her face.

Our daughter is now seven.

Last week, she was giving me a hug and the moment reminded me of that feeling from the video.

If I had to find a word to describe what I felt for her in that moment, I don't know that I could.

The word love was not enough. Not even close.

***

Words have a strange power.

When they are just right, they validate something in us that we didn't realize needed validation.

When they are not enough, they stop us in our tracks and somehow make our world feel bigger.