Put That Away!

While we're out jogging, PR likes to point things out along the way. He's usually the first to spot Mr. Robin, high in a treetop.

Today, a panel van, with three men crammed in the front, passed by as we were crossing the street.
"Did you smell the coffee?"
"Nope... too busy.... breathing..."

Then this:
"Look, a Christmas tree!"
"Where?"
"In that house... there."
Sure enough. There it was, in the front window. Decorated. Thankfully, the lights were not lit.

I did a quick mental calculation (all the while remembering to breathe)... February 7th... OK, so maybe it's become a fixture, and they don't even notice it anymore.

Later, in the shower (when my brain was re-oxygenated) I mulled it over. (Actually, I do some of my best thinking in the shower. Except when PR is home keeping an eye on the gas bill. Shhh, don't tell him.) Sometimes you notice things because they seem out of place, and sometimes you don't notice things until they are missing.

For instance, while we were in Missouri this weekend, I got a call from Karina, who'd come to Chicago with Jason and the boys for a party and were staying overnight at our house.
"Whatdja do with our high school pictures?"
She hadn't been home since I'd decided, a few weeks earlier, to make some decorating changes, and had taken down our kids' senior pictures, circa 1995-2000.

When the good things disappear, we miss them.

But when life's seasons change, we have to be ready to put things away.