What are your seven wonders of the world

Popular game show and crossword puzzle questions often ask for the names of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World:
 
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria

There have been various iterations of this list. Well-traveled people have interesting conversations about today's wonders. Some pick natural wonders like the Grand Canyon. Others pick tall buildings or majestic bridges.

Wonder is a word of both great and small intent. When wonder looms large, it refers to awe; when it's small, it refers to puzzlement. Large wonders include mountain vistas, sunsets, grand buildings, stunning historic districts and magic. Small wonders include why your neighbor mows his lawn at dawn on Sunday mornings or where (years ago) the yellow went when one brushed his teeth with Pepsodent.


How do you see it? When you think of wonder, do you think of the monumental creations of man or do you think about the creations of nature? Or, does your thinking tend toward synchronicity and magic and Kodak moments? Looking at your life as of this moment, what are your seven wonders in any sense of the word?

Here are mine:
The first time I stood on the summit of a mountain after a long climb.My first love.The moment when I understood the magic of words.Accidentally channeling the thoughts of an abused young girl.Meeting the soul mate who is now my wife.Riding on horseback across a wide river on a moonlit night encircled by the silhouettes of mountains.Seeing the smiles of children the first time I volunteered with Toys for Tots as ChristmasSocrates said "Wisdom begins in wonder" and Plato said "Philosophy begins in wonder."  For me, a sense of wonder begins in trusting the flow of life and experiencing the magic of being here in this world at this moment. In so many ways, I feel wonder in the fact that I can still experience wonder in a pragmatic and technological world, finding magic in smiles and conversations and the voices of the wind and the sea.

And you? Where have you experienced wonder?

--Malcolm