July

Some months bring something...a festival, a season, a reason to pause.
Some months pass quietly, without leaving a trace.
But then there is July.

July never just arrives...it returns. Like an old friend. Like a song I once played on repeat, now playing faintly in the background of everything.

Sometimes, without even realizing it, July reaches out softly...like a dream that comes quietly, pulling at something deep inside.

Every July, I slow down without meaning to. I pause more. I remember more.

I don’t always know why I’m remembering certain things or how they find their way back to me.
But they do. In quiet ways. Through a color, a certain kind of light.
I find myself pulled back to places I can’t describe, to feelings I don’t talk about, to younger versions of myself I thought I’d left behind.

Sometimes even the smell of popcorn in July is enough. And I laugh at how it holds so much weight. It’s wild how memory works...how it hides in corners of everyday life. In sounds. In smells. In school kids rushing past. In passing glances. In weather that feels almost like something from long ago.

This July has been quieter. I haven’t taken many pictures. Haven’t laughed the way I usually do. Life feels a little heavier right now.
But still...July wraps around me gently, like a reminder. A pause. A mirror. A moment.

While some months announce themselves with festivals or change, July quietly settles in...marked by memory. And memory doesn’t ask permission. It just walks in, sits beside you and stays awhile.

And so I wonder…
Would July be July without these feelings?
Would I be me without July?
Maybe not.
And that’s okay...because July knows.