lifting.

I'm ready for this weight to be lifted. This weight of winter. Do you know that I've been feeling heavy lately? Almost like breathing is difficult and walking takes effort and moving and thinking and being is just too much to ask. All because of winter.

The air has finally changed here in Pittsburgh. The temperature has risen a good ten or fifteen degrees, and the air smells different because of it. And then my lungs fill up with life again. I haven't felt much life lately: coming home from work, putting on sweats, curling up on the couch, turning on the television. Lather, rinse, repeat. Not wanting to go anywhere, not wanting to make any effort, because the air was so heavy with winter. But not now.

I had dinner tonight with three of my best girlfriends. After work. When I'm usually too tired and want to just go home. But I went. And my lungs filled up with life again. And my heart squeezed its warm blood through my veins, and I smiled. Because winter's weight is lifting.

The seasons remind me of how healing change can be. How special it is to go from one experience to the next, whether it's sun to cool breezes and golden leaves, or frozen air to freshly rejuvenated lungs. I could never live where there aren't all four seasons. The seasons make me appreciate that change, that healing, that reminder of all the amazing ways the earth and heavens take care of me.

My lungs and heart feel a bit of life again.

with love from Pittsburgh,
Laura
{i really, really love jude mcconkey's photography.}