Before this moment fades

As we were driving home last night, I noticed we were passing fields of beautiful bluebonnets.  They were full of people getting pictures made with photographers. 

A family of five on a couch (how did they get that there?!?).  

A beautiful woman in a white dress with curly brown hair, holding  four fingers out in front, towards the camera.  

A family with young kids and an old-fashioned wagon. 

A young couple, madly in love.

In the spring in Texas, it’s a typical Sunday afternoon occurrence.  Because they’re typically only with us for a week or two, we flood the fields, to snap photos with the beautiful Texas state flower before they fade into the hot days of summer.   We bribe our children with lollipops.

We haul furniture out to the middle of a field.

We do whatever it takes to capture this moment, this year, that won’t ever come again.   

Yesterday though, I noticed that my mind was wondering.  I was wondering what was going on with each of them.  As familiar as the scene was, and as similar as the people were, I noticed something different.  

They all seemed to have a different story to tell.  

I found myself curious about the gal holding up her four fingers.  What did it mean?

The family with the wagon seemed to be having a really frustrating moment.  I wonder if they had a child with special needs, or an extremely strong will,  who was having trouble posing for the camera.

The family on the couch, were those parents even getting along?  They had five kids squeezed in between them.

I wondered if the happy couple was newly engaged.

As we rounded the corner, I felt like I’d just passed through an entire movie scene.   All the while I was in my own car, with my own family and our own story.

I wondered how often we are oblivious to the stories of everyone around us.  How often we’re so busy with our own lives we don’t notice the stories of others.

Even when they’re so desperately trying to capture a moment in time.

The beauty around us, the stories unfolding, it can all be so mundane in our everyday lives.

What if it wasn’t?

What if we stopped to notice?  What if we got curious about the lives of others around us and learned more about their stories?

What if today, instead of passing by someone or something, that seems ordinary and typical, you stopped to ask a question?  What if you even just stopped in your own mind, to take a second glance, to think about their circumstance?

What might change?

You might see beyond the surface.

You might find yourself caring a little more for others and a little less about your to-do list.

And I think that’s a great place to start.

Before this moment fades. . . into the hot days of summer.

To more love,

Crystal