Words: how they look, and the sounds they make

I was working with a graphic designer friend on the renaming of a company, and he suggested the name: plumb.

I guess I didn't warmly embrace it. So he says, "Bill, sometimes you pick a word for how it looks more than for what it means." He points out the descending "p" and ascending "b" at the front and back of the word, and in the middle, the round mounds of the "m" right behind the scooping "u." And I saw the beauty of it all.

Tonight I was looking at a piece of print copy I had written and thought, "Yeah, and sometimes you choose a word for the sound it makes." Like this:

There’s a place where this can happen.

A pace at which it all unfolds to your liking.

A case for why it works.

A grace in the daily nature of it.

And a space, in the midst of it all –

among the activities, the friendships, the continuum of care –

a space that feels like home to you.