Summer is here in the South. Our windows are open and the sweet sounds of birds chirping (and garbage trucks barreling by) prance inside. As I sit here at my computer, there's a gentle breeze at my back, while I relish this annual milestone of letting the outdoors in.
Fortunately, our new little home is surrounded by large trees that work to keep our little apartment cooler than you'd expect. When we moved in, the branches were bare and I didn't really believe my landlord when she told us that the entire yard would soon be coated in shade.
Yet, just three months later, here we are. When I first planted my container garden, the leaves were still unfurling and the backyard was filled with light. Now the leaves have grown in so much that it has become a dance of scooting and twirling the containers so that they can bask in the sunny spots that are ever-changing.
I asked my husband the other day, "Does it feel like we've been living here a long time, yet?" Because sometimes, it feels like we've been living here for what seems like forever and at other times—like when I fight to find the light switches, groping for the places they were in our old apartment—it seems like it hasn't been that long at all.
When I think back on all the places I've lived, from Cincinnati to Athens to Birmingham to Grand Rapids to Atlanta, there are aspects that still feel like they happened yesterday: Walking along the cobblestone streets of Athens to meet my best friends for a picnic on the green. Fighting giant cockroaches and grasshoppers with my roommate in Birmingham. Driving to the beach on Lake Michigan. Packing up a huge moving truck and making the two-day journey southbound, with my husband of one month and a future unknown.
And yet then I think about how much has changed, and this thing called life astounds me at how it seems to move so quickly and yet so still at the same time. Somehow, it is both at the very same time. Isn't life such a mystery?
Like the leaves that take shape and the breeze that whispers through my window, today slips by so slowly it is almost unnoticed, with its promises of all that may be. And yet, it changes everything.
Here is to today...
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Oh I hear you! We're creeping so quickly towards the day when we leave this house, leave Great lakes, leave Illinois and head to California. Yet it seems just yesterday we were getting married and moving into that first tiny apartment. That T just left to go to bootcamp or that we just arrived in Florida. Where oh where has the time gone? I have to enjoy today because it is such a brief time
ReplyDeleteYes! My thoughts exactly :) Good luck with the cross-country move. I really don't like moving at all, but if it were to California, I think I could get excited about that! (Although, I've only been to San Diego, so that's all I'm going off of. I hope you're going somewhere near a beach!) Best of luck with the move!!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you wrote this... it makes me feel nostalgic myself. You're so right about the time slipping away. When each moment matters, I find it hard sometimes to think about how difficult (if not impossible) it can be to truly grasp each one and live it to the fullest. But then a single moment is all it takes to change the course of your life, of history even. I'm just grateful it's all in God's hands and not my own. I trust His grip much more than I'll ever trust my own. :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I'm jealous of your shade, because we're currently living in a suburb that really has no trees. Needless to say, it can pretty humid + hot without the shade to block the sun a little. You've lived so many different places! When my husband and I move in August, it will be my first time living outside of South Carolina. And we're just moving to North Carolina, haha :)
ReplyDelete@ Kristin - I couldn't have said it any better. I know the limits of my humanity too well! I would much rather have the Lord guiding everything, even when it means there are more than a few surprises along the way!
ReplyDelete@ Rachel - Ah, hopefully your new place will be FILLED with shady trees. I love the sunshine but could certainly do without the humidity :)
Dear Carmen, thank you for your blog. I love hearing from other women how they live in the grace of God. I am now 12 years married, with all the ups and downs, but very happily, and it's just lovely to hear about these first years of marriage, it all comes back to me and that helps to love my husband even more! I am not from the usa, but from Holland, but where ever one is, love is the same and with our testamonies of our life and love we are able to help one another when times are a bit rough. Thank you!
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous - Thank you so, so much for the kind words! I'm so glad you found my blog, across all those time zones :) It is so true about love being transcendent to all people, whether it's romantic or the love of the Lord! Thanks again :)
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