one summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s funny how one summer can change everything. It must be something about the heat and the smell of chlorine, fresh-cut grass and honeysuckle, asphalt sizzling after late-day thunderstorms, the steam rising while everything drips around it. Something about long, lazy days and whirring air conditioners and bright plastic flip-flops from the drugstore thwacking down the street. Something about fall being so close, another year, another Christmas, another beginning. So much in one summer, stirring up like the storms that crest at the end of each day, blowing out all the heat and dirt to leave everything gasping and cool.”

 

~ Sarah Dessen

 

 

 

 

waking up

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It takes only a moment to breathe, 
a moment to be still, and just like that,
 something in me settles, softens,
 makes space for imperfection.
 The harsh voice of judgement 
drops to a whisper and 
I remember again 
that life isn’t a relay race,
 that we will all cross the finish line, 
that waking up to life 
is what we were born for.  
As many times as I forget, 
catch myself charging forward
 without even knowing where I’m going, 
that many times I can make the choice 
to stop, to breathe, and be,
 and walk slowly into the mystery”.

 

~ Danna Faulds

 

 

 

 

 

boyhood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Will the freshness, lightheartedness, the need for love, and strength of faith which you have in childhood ever return? What better time than when the two best virtues — innocent joy and the boundless desire for love — were the only motives in life?”

Leo Tolstoy

 

 

 

 

 

 

(a scan of a very old photo)