• Five Minute Friday :: Phase Linkup
We go through short phases and longer ones. Kate wrote about being a little kid as a phase in their lives and in a parent's life. Sometimes we decide it's time to phase out a certain behavior or activity. Sometimes we don't know we're in a particular phase until it's over. Does something else take its place? Sometimes. Does its exit leave an empty space? Sometimes. But every time-limited aspect of life isn't necessarily a phase, is it?
Today I'm thinking about the years I spent in the Intermountain West. I lived along the Wasatch front, but with Utah being such a beautiful state, I took day trips and half-day excursions to other locations. But I regret that I took next to zero photographs. How could that be? I was going through a phase of grief and loss but without anyone to admit it to, lacking someone else to acknowledge it, taking pictures didn't even occur to me.
And the times I spent in Boston. Although I was born in the deep south, I grew up in Boston in a family that was Midwestern and Southern. That first phase was long, with friends, schools, many activities, and plans for a future of service and participation.
My second Boston-Cambridge sojourn featured another phase of professional school—some would call it "grad school," but I reserve that expression for high-end academic programs and not so much for something like an MSW, MDiv or others with practical career content, even though they all include some heavy-duty academics.
My third Massachusetts layover was Boston and Cape Cod. Someday I might even write about that important phase.
All of those are long phases defined by a particular geography, and inside that longitude and latitude, defined by what I did and by what happened to me.
What kinds and lengths of phases has your life had?
It's interesting to look back on the different phases of life and what we learned from them. I think they can be marked by all different things - location, work, personal circumstances etc. It's encouraging to remember certain difficulties that seemed all-consuming at the time and to recognise that they were only temporary. Visiting from FMF.
ReplyDeleteToo many to count! I was born in one place, moved to another at 10, then moved every few years because of Dad's job, college, my work, until I was 32. Then there's emotional, relational and spiritual phases over 6 decades. I am just glad that at least I have been and plan to be for the foreseeable future in the same physical location - different houses, but same city at least - for 26 years now. Enough is enough!
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