The Weight of a Breath

I was walking through the park this morning when I saw a toddler chasing a pigeon. She wasn’t trying to catch it, really. She was just running because the bird was moving, and her laughter sounded like a small, bright bell ringing against the gray pavement. It made me stop and realize how much of our adult lives is spent trying to hold onto things that are already gone. We want to keep the moment, the feeling, the success, or the person, forgetting that the beauty of a thing is often tied to its ability to vanish. When we stop trying to pin life down, we finally get to see it for what it is—a series of fragile, shimmering things that exist only for a heartbeat. We are so busy building walls to protect our happiness that we forget to stand in the open and let the wind carry it away. Is it possible that we only truly own the things we are willing to let go of?

Von Christopher Trabado has captured this exact feeling of fleeting wonder in his beautiful image titled Bubbles. It reminds me that some of the best parts of life are the ones that pop the moment we try to touch them. Does this image bring back a specific memory of play for you?