Sunday, August 15, 2010

Time


Time changes people.

It has certainly changed me.

I used to be a social butterfly. When Trever and I were newly married, I was never very happy on weekends unless we had someone over for dinner. I loved to visit, to talk, to entertain.

I talked on the phone incessantly. Granted, my family lived several states away for the first time in my life, and adjusting proved difficult for me, but I still talked to my mother every day. And I talked to my friends all the time as well. We had to shop around for a long-distance phone plan that made this habit affordable.

I loved getting out of the house at every opportunity. I adored shopping (and I spent quite a bit more money than we could have afforded.) I would put my baby in the stroller and just walk the mall. Or a hobby store. Or a bookstore...

Somehow, now, I struggle to practice hospitality. I am a homebody. I don't like big crowds of people, and I detest the mall. I prefer to do my shopping online, when I must do it at all.

I make a genuine effort to make phone calls to those dear friends and family members who live too far away to communicate with otherwise. Even then, I don't talk on the phone very often.

I have friends, and I love my friends. But my best friend lives in the very same house, and he is the one I spend the most of my time with. When he's home in the evenings, honestly, I am completely content just to cuddle up next to him and read, watch a show together, or talk. We are very companionable, and we get along very well.

I suppose the one thing that has remained is my love for books. My husband knows better than to try to take me for a "quick" trip to a bookstore. A cup of coffee and a stack of books and leather bound journals will keep me busy for hours. Perhaps it sounds strange, but some of my best friends are books, and the beautiful people who write them.

I simply find it interesting that, as time passes, certain things pass away while others remain. I have overcome many of my past struggles, and the ones I now face are mostly new. I have learned a lot.

Life changes us.

And I am not a bit convinced it has to be for the worse, either.

2 comments:

  1. Here I am just trying to get a little bit of housework done, hmm. This post really illustrates a whole new shift in what I thought my ministry was- a whole lssening of a role I know I had. But circumstances have changed, and I have shut down on a certain level. But I'm thinking through your positivity on change. You have given me much to ponder as I go about my small things today!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can totally relate Amy. I was the same way, always out on the go. Now I prefer being home, shopping online and hate crowds. It may have something to do with my dizziness, but I have found I am more content in being home.

    ReplyDelete

Your kind thoughts...