Sometimes in life it’s nice to take it all in
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009I just got back from a trip to AZ to watch my lil sis graduate from high school (big congrats again sis…love ya) and it as so truly interesting to me to see how things have changed…and oddly how things have not. One of the funnier little things that happened because I decided to take and use the camera I received as a graduation present when I escaped high school (which, with how often I did homework on the bus on the way to school often times amazes me.) The fact that I used the camera wasn’t the funny part but that that camera is in fact 16 years old and people using it had one of two reactions. They either took a snap shot and gave a perplexed look when they checked out the back panel to see what the shot looked like only to find the back of the door that holds in the film…OR….they asked the same basic question “Wait, this camera actually uses film?”
Surprisingly it didn’t make me think I was old, considering how a few of the photographers were older than I am, but how truly used we so often are to instant gratification. I admit I enjoy the thrill, the anticipation and possible let down of getting film developed and seeing how wonderful or horrid mt photographs turned out. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing my photos right away but there is that beautiful curiosity, no matter how small, of “is this going to work?” that I do miss more often than not.
Which, in my sleep deprived state back here to the east coast, got me thinking about other little things I realized briefly while out on the west coast. In no particular order, here are two of the big ones…
I missed how the sun slowly rises here in the east. If you haven’t been to the southwest, or at least AZ when the sun comes up it comes all the way up. 4:45am you can go outside and it looks like it’s noon. I’m generally a wake up mostly awake kinda guy but something about waking up to a soft sun is nice.
Uncertainty. I remember that feeling I had when I graduated from High School all full of confidence and swagger. I remember right along with those feelings that one nagging little feeling that I had no idea where things were going. This might be something that drives other people nuts, they crave the certainty, but for me the thing that makes success such a thrill and so exciting is that chance that everything will just crumble at your feet. Call me a thrill seeker if you will but that makes life such a joy to live…the not knowing for sure how it’s all going to turn out. I don’t remember having the same level I had in those moments after officially graduating at any other point in my life. I knew after college what I wanted to do with my life and how I wanted to do it. I know now what I want and generally where I want to go. I miss the mystery I guess.
May seem weird but, that’s me…
As for the flip side somethings never change. The high schooler’s absorption in the moment. The silly and almost 100% inside joke-dom of the graduation speeches. The wonderful pockets of truly rambunctious parents and friends in the stands yelling random things to the grads interrupting the ceremony. The strange “it’s over but it’s just another day” atmosphere around the whole thing. Oh…and of course…pictures…pictures….pictures.
There are so many little things in life that change and so many little things that don’t…I just have to keep trying to pay attention to them each and every day. Especially since it’s those things that make all the difference.
Well, last week I went on a trip to Vegas for business. I attended the Hardware/Lawn & Garden Trade Show as a service professional. Basically I just wandered around for hours talking to people, looking at all the various things that would be coming out. Was neat but let me tell you, if you ever go to one, pack comfortable…REALLY comfortable shoes. My feet were killing me by the end of the first day and were just about to fall off at the end of the second. However, on the second day we did get ambushed by a woman selling massaging equipment and I got a nice foot vibration by this super cool device I might actually look into buying. I can’t remember the name of it but I grabbed a flyer just in case I got the urge to splurge. Anyway it was a good productive trip.
