just a season

Whenever I was going through a tough time a friend of mine used to say "Remember, it's just a season".

That phrase has been running through my head a lot lately. We all seem to be in a pattern of waiting, in a time when our patience is truly tested. Whether it's in the life of this world, our government, our financial state, or our personal state.

For those that just joined us, we are expecting our second kid in late November. Nothing like pregnancy teaches patience. There is no hurrying the growth of a brain, heart and body.

My Dad had a massive stroke in early June. I just visited him over the weekend and was able to see the enormous amount of progress that he has made in just a few months. But he is ready to move on. Hours of grueling therapy fill his week so that he is only able to come home and eat and sleep. He wants to be able tell us everything that is in his head. He wants to be able to get up and walk across the room. He longs for his freedom. He longs for the use of his hands so that he can paint again. His patience is unbelievable. He says that there is no room for frustration ... "what good would it do?" he asks.

The garden we planted in May is giving us so much more than we need. I obsessively checked it for fruit all of June, July and August. Nothing. But come September we have had over forty cucumbers. The tomato plants are spilling onto the sidewalk and giving us baskets full yellow and red sweetness. The cosmos that I planted from seeds are six feet tall with magnificent blooms.


The advantage of living in multiple places is that you understand that sometimes seasons last longer than you want them to. Atlanta stays too hot too long. And in Chicago it's just the opposite. But if you take it day by day it always gets better. Just when you think you can't take another day, everything has changed.