the things that still hold true

in turning 29 + 2 today, i realized that inside, i'm still just a big kid. and there are things that will always hold true for me, no matter how much experience, maturity or knowledge i gain through the years. par exemple:

- the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking will always be my favorite

- given the choice and the ability, if i could be anything in the world, i'd want to be a mermaid

- where there's music, there's gotta be dancing

- a grassy hill demands a nice roll or two down it

- running barefoot by the ocean will always make me happy

- there is always a story to be told and an adventure to be had

- i'm never too old to hug and kiss mom and dad, even in public

- there is always a happy ending, it's just a question of when it happens

on another note, following up on my previous movies post is this article in paste magazine about the enduring popularity of 'where the wild things are'. my favorite bit at the end of this well-written piece:

But Where the Wild Things Are has something these other books don’t have. A great secret. And here’s why it endures: Wild Things is not really a children’s book.

Oh, children unquestionably love Wild Things—what child wouldn’t gobble up a tale where the hero gets it all? Max chases the dog with a fork, threatens to eat his mom. When punished, he fantasizes an anger so profound, a vengeance so monumental, that it flattens all in its path. The most fearsome adversaries bow and scrape before his wrath. He inflicts an eyeball-to-eyeball humbling on the poor woolly behemoths … Hah! You’re not so big and bad after all, are you, my 
pussycats?

And then? Once Max’s anger is slaked, once love and loneliness begin to fill his heart again—why, he comes back home.

Don’t we all want that?

HE FOUND his supper waiting for him and it was still hot.

Well done, Max. You have your cake and rumpus, too. You got it all.

Where the Wild Things Are gives mom and dad a book that fully acknowledges the catharsis of anger and the wondrous healing power of imagination. It also shows that discipline is a requirement, even as it gives parents a way to show a child that discipline is love, too.

Even better, after misbehavior and punishment, when regret and loneliness are the last embers glowing in the black ashes of anger, when a child misses mom or dad and wants to come home, he always can.

Unconditional love reels Max back.

It’s better than any wild rumpus could ever be.

And it’s not just children who crave that promise. It’s their parents, and those hipsters, too—anyone who once was a child. It’s everyone, it’s all of us.

that's the story of the gospel itself, isn't it? we are creatures of rage and vengeance, blinded by our own desires and driven by our anger and selfishness, yet at the end of the day, we are all just scared, lonely children, desperate to be loved and longing so much to come home. and we are given the opportunity, welcomed by a heavenly Father who disciplines us but also loves us with a love that covers and heals. beautiful.


cups of coffee: 1, accompanying the nice breakfast my brother made for my birthday!

mood: ever grateful, ever joyful