Got A Secret, Can You Keep It

Word of advice for all you beautiful souls:

Treat your Monday like this puppy treated the treadmill, and you will be golden.

I hate to be one of those people -

the ones who gradually begin to blog very inconsistently,

and then make a million promises to change for the better,

but then repeat the mistake over and over again ... and then once more.

But y'all, I'm a bad beezy, I just can't stop me and my bad girl ways.

I peek some Peking duck!

No, but seriously, the first two weeks of school are always unbelievably out-of-sorts,

and so hopefully now that I've got my routine down pat, I'll have more time for this joint.

-

Towards the end of my time in China,

my constant need to capture moments in photograph form,

sort of ... disappeared.

I just preferred to relish in the time I had left in this crazy, foreign, familiar place,

with the people who somehow had the misfortune to share some of the same DNA as me.

Sorry 'bout that, guys.

And not to mention, lugging around a massive SLR is just not as "hip girl" as I dreamed.

I mean, it kind of is, but I just ran out of upper body strength.

My mommy (third from the left) w/ her sisters.

They also have a brother, the middle kid, but he didn't join us for dinner that day,

because when you have lived that many years with this many sisters,

you deserve a break from all the loud chit-chat every once in awhile.

MY CHILDREN.

Technically, they're not mine.

But that's only if you're getting real technical about it.

I just love these two tykes to itty bitty pieces, even if they tend to hide behind a chair

when I start to photograph them and their poke-able, chubby, blissful cheeks.

They carry the great weight of being the sole members of the fourth generation

of our family at the moment, and I think they're doing a fine job of it.

The little one, Mr. Lovely Panda up there, is a huge fan of his older cousin,

and would take his little plastic cup full of peach juice up to her, 

clink their "glasses" and shout "Cheers!" and down it in one satisfying gulp.

I don't know how this bodes for his future, but you do you, Mister.

A little drunk off of that peach juice.

That's some strong stuff, man.

My parents and I spent the night before our flights in Shanghai.

It was actually a huge holiday in China - the Mid-Autumn Festival,

where everyone eats mooncakes and gazes at the full moon and whatnot.

It was prime photo-taking time, and I barely picked up my camera.

Because the thing is, as we wandered the streets of Shanghai -

shuffling in small steps and moving as a crowd,

as the humidity screwed up my hair and crowds gathered in pockets

at various points along the streets to clap and holler along with 

the musicians and the jokesters and the dancers,

I realized that even if a picture can capture a thousand words ...

no picture could do any justice to what I was experiencing at that moment.

The energy, the glee, the curiosity.

As a blogger and a writer, sometimes I find it so necessary

to try and capture whatever I'm feeling at whatever moment,

either by snapping a quick picture, or trying to find certain phrases to describe it.

But in the recent weeks, I've started to feel that maybe,

some things, we can save for ourselves, and for our memories.

Sometimes, we should let thought stop detracting from these magical moments,

and just let ourselves experience - hear, smell, taste, feel, see, sixth sense,

and then bury this scene in a corner of our heart and lock it up tight.

Like a little secret, just meant for me to know.

Got a secret, can you keep it...

Not gonna finish the song - too morbid.

Happy Monday, everyone!