parallels.

"when it rains, it pours."

boy, wasn't that statement ever the truth.

maybe it's the weather, or maybe something else entirely altogether, but my lips have been swelling up intermittently lately. usually the episodes only last about a day or so, and during the episode i actually don't quite mind since it makes my usually non-existent lips appear existent, but it's the days after that get and stay under my skin (literally). my lips are never the same after these days. they're stiff, the top epidermal layer is cracked and sensitive, and the color is all but there - it's barely noticeable the change in color from the rest of my skin to what's there where my lips normally would be.

which brings me to the title of this post: parallels. through swells and lows, rises and falls, ebbs and flows, things are never really the same once it's gone through any of these episodes. it's not that they're completely different, it's more just they're now there with some slight hint, some slight sign (albeit however small) of change. for my lips, it's a case of the telltale skin. for others, it's a new wrinkle, a gray hair that wasn't there the day before, or a fonder appreciation for whatever it is they may have taken granted only some slight time ago, before. and even though it's fundamentally the same, ultimately, it's different. and in that slight difference we grow with it, we progress forward with it, we experience compassion for it.

that is progress.