Still sitting . . . still waiting.

This (and this and this) reminded me of a favorite passage that I am going to re-post in case you missed it last time. I was halfway through being pregnant with Theo before I really knew he was there. This time, thanks in part to some stretched-out muscles, I have been feeling the baby move for over a month now. And I'm not just thinking of this concept in terms of pregnancy, but also in spiritual, mental, emotional, even physical contexts; my relationships with my husband, my son, my family, my friends, my Heavenly Father, my "enemies" (not that I really have enemies but you know), my neighbors, my body, my vices, my virtues, my life, my future, my past. Sometimes I get too comfortable in my own little spot before I realize it's time for me to grow.

"Tita thought of the many times she had germinated kernels or seeds of rice, beans, or alfalfa, without giving any thought to how it felt for them to grow and change form so radically.

"Now she admired the way they opened their skin and allowed the water to penetrate them fully, until they were split asunder to make way for new life.

"She imagined the pride they felt as the tip of the first root emerged from inside of them, the humility with which they accepted the loss of their previous form, the bravery with which they showed the world their new leaves.

"Tita would love to be a simple seed."

-Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate