After a stage-4 cancer diagnosis, Duke historian Kate Bowler visited roadside attractions like the world's largest ball of twine and biggest thermometer. She learned that "the worst things can arrive for no reason at all," and that the same openness letting grief in also admits wonder and delight.
When was the last time you did something completely pointless just because it delighted you? Kate Bowler is a historian at Duke who writes about how people deal with suffering. After she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, she started seeking out roadside oddities: the world's biggest ball of twine, the world's largest thermometer. It sounds ridiculous, and that was the point. Cancer had taught her that the worst things can arrive for no reason at all. But she realized that delight can also hit you for no reason. Hence the ball of twine. Kate calls a broken heart an open heart. The same rawness that lets in grief also allows us to feel wonder. For her, little moments of whimsy gave her a full life at a time when it could have felt empty.
