Love is a pox...

I seldom indulge in doubt.

But there are some things as a kid that the adults said were "givens" in life that I'd always written off as exaggerations. I'd always doubted a certain set of things. You know the sort. "Time will go so fast ten years will pass like a month." Really? Come on now-I'm not that dumb. The "time-flies" promise was something I always denied. At seventeen, eighteen, I was not ready to accept it. Not quite yet. But my reticence to acknowledge there might be something in it after all was weakening, though I wasn't aware.

Because this year has been huge in one way: A pox has broken out. The pox. 

When you're fourteen years old you sit on the bed with mama beside you and talk about "the future" in comfortable terms of far-awayness. You sigh and lament the fact that there's nobody around to marry, were you old enough anyway. "Don't worry," mama says. "Once it starts happening you won't know what has started. Everyone will start dropping like flies."

You snort.

You chuckle in a "Yeah, like that will every happen" way.

You forget about it.

Until you're twenty. And then. Then. Then the pox does break out.

After coming home from a trip for the second time this fall and finding (for the second time!) that another friend has found herself a "matchless match" (and what's up with this happening every time I leave town?) I felt rather kooky. Was it just me or was there an inordinate amount of "matches" being made this year? How many was it? An alarming amount, it seemed. Could it be that Mama was right and once it started it wouldn't stop? Ahem.

This afternoon I sat down and decided to count--for sanity's sake--how many friends and acquaintances of mine had begun a relationship {or were bordering on it} this year? The total took me by storm.

14.

14 couples.

That makes 28 if you're counting. But who's counting?

28 people I know (more or less) who have coupled off this year. And this isn't counting the people I know who have gotten married or are engaged currently.

O.o

I feel...

...not jealousy.

More like bewilderment.

 Confusion and a little kick-back defense to find that those adults were right all along.

Love is a pox. A pox the whole world succumbs to by and by.

Well jeegley-clambake. This is a to-do.

It's one of those cases where you find the world flying out of control, out of your grasp, and growing up suddenly looks rather serious and cock-eyed and not at all like you thought it would be. It's exciting because obviously some things are finally moving along and little people are growing up and meeting people and loving people and marrying people and having more little people. But it's going so fast.

A busy summer and fall of campaigning, ministry, and writing.

I finally slow down, turn around, and three of my best friends are in relationships.

Several good friends follow suit.

I hear tell rumors of the same happening in my extended circles.

What on earth happened? I'll tell you. We grew up. And once you grow up beautiful things start to happen. Beautiful, scary, adventurous things. It's real now and I find the adults were right.

...about love.

...about time.

...about life.

I have seen things change so fast it'll give you whiplash. I actually started a Pinterest-board because of this new revelation of having grown up. It's inspiring new ideas, new thoughts, new inspirations. So here's to adventure. Here's to wearing a neck-brace if you have to. Here's to buckling your seat-belt, checking your parachute, and waiting for the drop.

Here's to a bit of daring.