open mouthed

time goes so quickly these days.

and it's so much fun. i'm savoring the days of big, wet, open-mouthed baby kisses and belly laughs over hitting myself in the head with a spatula. or getting videos of my sweet chubs of a niece playing with my valentines present in the bathtub and "blowing" me a kiss (it's more of a hand to the mouth and eyes full of intention to do the next step but can't quite put it together - the best).

babies remind me of what my parents always drilled into us about life being lived in seasons. it's one of my favorite truths they instilled in us.

i love, love, love all of the literal seasons. it's one of the ways God says, "hey - i know when you get itchy for change.." as much as i love winter and wearing winter clothes, i love spring and flowers and playing catch. and i love summer for the fact that it feels like this city, collectively, has rolled a fatty of fellowship and fun. people are out every night until 3am and music plays and people are constantly doing things. i live right next to a park, so it helps that in the summer the windows in my building are all open and i get to hear the fun sound of baseballs clinking to bats and then screams and shouts while someone runs the bases. and i love taking weekend trips to the beach and laying in the sun until cancerous spots appear (melanoma is never funny, guys - obtain an appropriate SPF. i wear 80 on my face. that's not a lie.).

so i love the seasons of different weather for different reasons and then i love the different seasons of life for different reasons. but sometimes i'm not necessarily a fan of them. like now, when things are so much fun and life seems to be nearly perfect on all fronts - i think, "um, i'm fine with this not being a season and it just being the way life is!" but i think about some of the really difficult seasons that got me to this one and i just smile. because God has a way of sifting things out.

ok go has a song called "this too shall pass" and it's a fun listen. but the bridge just keeps saying, "let it go, this too shall pass". and it's something i pray and sing over my family and friends who aren't themselves in this season.

man you think it's tough being in a bad season yourself - try watching someone you love in a season that you see as so destructive to them and the people around them. it's the hardest thing i've ever done. harder than being brokenhearted. because the completion and redemption through healing is 1000% out of your hands. it's crippling.

so now i'll go back to crawling around on the floor and hiding in corners until little pigeon toed feet come to find me and kiss me. because this season reminds me of the beauty of life - new and old. used and unused. broken and preserved. salty and sweet.