5 Things I learned in June

The What We Learned posts are hosted by Emily Freeman as a “monthly community link-up to share the fascinating, ridiculous, sacred, or small.” I’ve wanted to link up for a while, but you know, I always have something else going on. So today is my first time joining with 5 Things I Learned in June:
1. Cherries DO taste like cough syrup.

Yes I love them. In fact, I really adore them. And I’ve always wondered how they got the deliciousness of that small little fruit tidbit into the nastiness that is known as cough syrup flavoring. Like it doesn’t even taste like the real thing! But then, I tried a tart cherry. They are the size of a finger nail, bursting with juice, but are so sour and tart and they really do have the flavor of cough syrup. Who knew?

2. Besides the ocean, lilac is my favorite scent.

Smelling flowers is a new things for me. I haven’t really paid much attention to them until more recently. This year, our landlord just happened to not trim any of our yard bushes so everyday as I walked down our front porch stairs this giant bush smelled so lovely I wanted to take in the scent and remember it forever. It was a lilac! Apparently he’d been cutting the bush so early in the season each year that the lilac buds were continuously chopped off. So we never knew what kind of tree it was. And I did smell it. Slowly. Everyday.

3. I don’t really love bread.

Housemate and I did a month of clean eating. We didn’t learn a whole lot, except that we both don’t love much more than the convenience of bread. Which is a good thing, because I also found out I was allergic to gluten this month too!

4. I despise folding laundry.

It’s a problem. So much so that I actually sleep with my clean laundry at the base of my bed an average of a week per load. At which time it gets placed into the closet in a pile. Out of sight, out of mind.

5. I feel the most connected with the Lord, when I am connected meaningfully to others .

I have a friend who feels the most connected and at peace when she’s near a body of water. Another in the wilderness. Another with a family member. For me, it’s when I am engaging in meaningful conversation with someone I love. It fills my love tank. It energizes my soul. I actually am almost always PAIN free during these moments. I noticed it back in college that when we had our youth meetings and dinners or events or when I had had a meaningful conversation that I would feel emotionally filled, but also that it was the only time pain did not register. For the last year or so, I thought this was “wrong”. That I should be more “independent”, more “contemplative”, more okay with being alone. The idea that: “you shouldn’t need anyone but God”. But it’s just not how I was formed. It’s not how God made me. I am better with a few others around to engage with intimately, my soul becomes alive and every cell in my body is attuned to it. And I have healing. It’s like God’s own ingrained medicine for my sick body.