Tuesday, June 12, 2007

All Boxed-In

It has been quite a while since we last posted anything, due to packing. I suppose I could have just packed the computer and pulled it out when we arrive to our final destination (since I have not written a thing for a couple of weeks), but I'll try and keep us up-to-date in the happenings around here. About a week and a half ago we began the packing process and made a lot of progress. We had our inspector here and she thoroughly checks everything, unpacks, and unfolds things I guess to make sure that they were packed and folded correctly the first time. What has been the best discovery throughout our packing process is that Maddy is learning to walk, so she goes from bin to bin, sidestepping--like a new baby, two-step dance. She freestands. She makes us say, "Did you just see that!?" The other day she was freestanding, and it looked like she had been doing it for ages, because she was unaware of that fact that she was doing what she was doing, and we had to take a second look, because it looked so natural. Change. What is it? It seems to come on so gradually, and yet it is something that we oftentimes pray for, and then fight or regret when it happens. Life is all about change. If nothing ever changed in our day-to-day life, that is, if we never bettered ourselves, appreciated the alterations, would we take everything for granted and never enjoy the now? I was thinking about this the other day when I was hanging a load of laundry out beneath the brilliant rays of sunshine here in Honolulu. I took in a breath of the whirling winds and glanced and the gorgeous greenery and steroid-sized leaves that dangle and dance all around us. If we were not moving, would I appreciate this island the way that I am right now? Maybe not, because I would be staying here and I would probably become so accustomed to the loveliness around me that I possibly would never think that it could be taken away. The same with Maddy: if change never occured, I would most likely never grasp on to and appreciate for that moment the little silly things she does as a 10 month-27-day-old baby, before our little 11month-old stares us in the eyes. Some people can see a move as a sad affair, an end. But, I rather see it as a chance to grow, to slough off the old and be bathed in the new--growth--while appreciating the past, looking forward to tomorrow, and making the most of today.