I Had A Dream

I, like so many other people my age, have some issues with technology and most of those issues have something to do with the fact that we either do not understand how to use it or we haven't any use for it in our lives.  We like things the way they were.  We miss the "good old" days.  I don't own many of those "devices" and am one of the few who don't have a Smartphone.

But, there is one thing that this brave new world has literally put into my hands, and that is the digital camera.

God's gift to those of us who waited.  Something we all can use and enjoy. My favorite camera was beyond compare and my new one is now totally in action and I am greatly relieved.  

This year, I am planning to do something with some of those photos that I have stored in the canyons of my computer. First of all, I must find out how to lasso them from their resting places.  The Picasa's have to have a meeting with the Kodak Easyshare's and those hanging out in Myphotos will have to join them.  The task of getting them into order seems daunting but the time has definitely come.  My photos tell stories.  A lot of those I have in these computer places have been taken specifically for that reason.  

Years ago, when I was a teenager, I had a dream, a life I had envisioned and one that I still think about almost every day.  In my dream world, I was a courageous young woman, who, dressed in khaki shorts and hiking boots would drive around the country, stopping along the way to meet people.  I would randomly select a person or group and start a conversation.  My camera would capture what they looked like.  My pen would document their words and then I would get back in my car and travel on until I came to the next wonderful place.  I never fulfilled that fantasy.  But, the desire to know more and to celebrate the smallest things in a life is still very much alive.

I'd like to think that I have in some way kept my dream alive.  I often see things that to me, are stories. I know this part of me is alive and well every time I see a shoe on the side of the road or a pair of sneakers hanging on a telephone wire.  I want to know what were the last words those shoes heard.  I want to know if the owner realizes yet that one is missing.  I see shoes everywhere and have taken so many photos of them that I probably should have written a coffee table book by now.  "Shoes" by Lynn Guardino, the Woman With a Dream .

So, before I start the monumental project of re-organizing years of photos, I will leave off with this one as it is one I dearly love.  My beautiful daughter, Sara, is an attorney.  She's a member in good standing of the Massachusetts Bar.  She is also the mother of two little girls, Lucy and Phoebe.  She is and always has been, a creative individual.  When her girls were toddlers, she made a decision, one that really took guts.  She left the law world and officially entered the creative world with the start of her own photography business.  In her fashion, just as she has with most everything she has done in her life so far, she has made it highly successful.  When you think about it, how can you fail when you follow a dream, venture down the path of creativity and contribute beauty to the world. 

So, I love this photo and the little story it tells.  A mommy and her baby on preschool graduation day.  There's so much love and pride in the shot.  I took it so I know the dynamics but it does speak for itself quite beautifully.Sara's taken thousands of photos.  But at this very moment, there's a story telling itself so sweetly and so honestly that it brings tears to my eyes each and  every time I look at it.