June Through the iPhone

And just like that, 2013 is half over. Here’s what June looked like for us.

So I pretty much only take pictures of my baby anymore. Whatever.

Sorting through photos, the word that kept coming up over and over again was

New.

Flowers bloomed and babies flew, and new life seemed to open up all around us. June took its job of transitioning us from spring to summer very seriously this year. And nailed it.

We made new friends and met new dogs. We grew into new clothes and tried new foods and had new experiences – like shopping carts and swimming pools. Even old things like church picnics were bursting with new friends and new locations.

What an adventure

We didn’t leave the county all month, but what an adventure nonetheless. Some adventures involve long journeys and peril, but some adventures involve blueberries … or bloodhounds. As long as it’s new. 

In some ways we became new people, too. We became people who can sit up unassisted. People who have flavor preferences. At one point I looked around and realized I was wearing my baby while I hung cloth diapers on the clothesline, and I snapped a picture to text to a friend with the question, “When did I become this crunchy?”

I became a person with a messy house (That one hurt.), and a terrible diet (I’m eating chocolate chips out of the bag right now. No joke.). But I’m pretty sure that the way I love people is completely new too.

And there’s something else, I know there is, but I just can’t put my finger on it.

Because the thing about adventure is that it fundamentally changes its characters. The adventure is never really the story; the metamorphosis is the story. The characters discovering their weaknesses and facing their fears and pushing their boundaries is what goes on at the heart of an adventure. It’s why we love those stories – not because of the events, but because we see ourselves (or our ideals) in the people who face them.

With that in mind, it’s a comfort to think about some of the great stories that we all know, and realize that most of the heros were not excited about their adventures while they were still in the middle of them. At the climax, it doesn’t look like an adventure – it looks like terrible luck or a really bad decision or treachery or imminent death.

Maybe that’s why I can’t put my finger on what else feels so new right now – maybe it’s not done yet.

(Hopefully July ends up being about resolution.)

In the meantime, I’m probably not the only one who needs to remember that what’s really going on is that we’re just not done yet.

What was June about for you? What adventure are you in the middle of?

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So I hadn’t really intended to do this, but it kind of fits. Crystal hosts this link-up every Tuesday whereby adorbs bloggers post their pretty pictures and tell the sometimes-not-so-pretty story behind it. I creep it sometimes, and last week I chimed in. I just realized it was Tuesday as I finished this, so okay. Clicky the “Behind the Scenes” thumb and go check out some even better bloggers telling even better stories.