[null, {"document_url": "http://megansimplysaid.blogspot.com/2011/04/growth.html", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NnGm75ZlLuY/TZvM7K7D1iI/AAAAAAAAAH0/5nYyEVb5nAY/s320/growth.jpg", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NnGm75ZlLuY/TZvM7K7D1iI/AAAAAAAAAH0/5nYyEVb5nAY/s320/growth.jpg", "formatted_filename": "growth", "rendered_width": 320, "rendered_height": 319}, null, null, null, null]
It's one of those things that goes unnoticed for the most part on a day to day basis. Only the combination of absence and passage of time seem to bring forth the realization that things are steadily moving forward, growing... changing.

The tiny little seeds that were gently tucked into the soil a few short weeks ago are now green and lush. They're not the fragile little stems they once were. Bathing in the sun, they've become leafy plants... I can almost see them reaching for the sun, as they grow steadily each day.

The little people that I left behind a week ago also, impossibly, seem changed. They're bigger, faster, leaner, chattier, toothier... older. Each has progressed a little in his and her own way. It's a stark realization, yet something I never would have noticed had I not left.

It makes me wonder what else has changed while I was too busy to notice?

That inspiration to reflect has pointed out that the people, places and experiences in my life have certainly shaped and colored my world... at times inspiring me... always changing me. Regardless of what it may seem like at the time... lets face it, not every experience seems great when we're going through it... you only have to pace the floors with a sick child once or suffer a loss or disappointment to realize that not all experiences are necessarily welcome... but welcome or not, cumulatively, they comprise who we are... who we become.

I guess the challenge is to learn from every experience, and even when we might not feel like it, to reach for the sun... becoming a little less fragile and steadily growing day by day.
Posted by Megan Boyum at 10:16 PM