Today my brother and I were talking about his eldest, and how she is suddenly transforming from a child who couldn’t have cared less about spelling and grammar, much to her aunt’s chagrin, to one who is practicing her spelling every night. I said, “Actually, I’ve come to a whole host of realizations about our childhood on the basis of some boxes I discovered here over the weekend.” (In case you’ve missed it, my husband and I purchased the house formerly known as my parents’, this past spring, and even though I didn’t grow up in it, there is a lot of early-Jenn paraphernalia around here. I mean…a lot.)

“Including,” I continued, “rediscovering that I myself wasn’t always particularly concerned with spelling and grammar when I was younger.”

My brother registered some surprise at learning this. I guess people do change. But maybe the essentials remain the same. I was inexpressibly delighted to discover this drawing over the weekend which I feel simultaneously encapsulates one of the things that has changed about me (an extraneous apostrophe in the faint writing at the top) and the very most important thing to me which I hope has only gotten closer and stronger: my pilgrimage with (to) Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t look too thrilled about this arrangement at first glance, but in the actual drawing (and maybe if you look closely here), you can see He’s actually smiling.

In what ways have you fundamentally changed since childhood, and in what ways do you remain the same?