Photograph

I have a board on the wall of my office that has photos and postcards that I love. On my desk, is a larger, framed photograph, and tucked into the corner is a dried four leaf clover.



During the day -- especially during stressful days -- I can look over and gain perspective. I think that so often, we -- or maybe just I -- lose sight of what's important in the rush of the everyday and forget to hold on to the bigger, better things. 
 
It's sort of like this: everyone has driven over a speed bump. You slow down, you cruise over it, you go back to what you were doing. It's a moment in your journey to wherever you are going. It PASSES. It should never ruin your day. There is a difference between a speed bump, and, say, a ravine. It's simply that so often, we let the speed bumps take on ravine proportions.

My photos are here, in the space where I work, to remind me not to let the speed bumps become ravines. You probably have some too. Here are some of mine.

Photoboard: Counter clockwise from left corner

1. Snapshot taken in the Olympic Mountains: Tom, Josh, Heidi B, me. First, every time I see it I think: how the heck did anyone convince me THAT was a good idea? (I'm, erm, leery of heights.) Second, despite the fact that there was MAJOR arguing on the way TO the mountains (which may be the understatement of the century), we're all really smiling and happy to be up there, in the cold, hanging out. It was a good day.

2. My sister and her husband on their wedding day. Awwwww. She looks so happy.

3. A laminated photo from a newspaper that shows firefighters raising a flag at Ground Zero. This picture shames and humbles me. Really? Am I having such a bad day? Do I even understand what "bad day" means?

4. There are two snapshots from a trip to England where a friend and I are romping through a series of benches that are painted to look like a small city. We are terrorizing them in a Godzilla-like fashion. I was quite ill with food poisoning when we took those photos, but I remember being outrageously happy while we were doing it. Plus, they're hysterically funny. I don't know that passers-by thought we were as amusing as we did, but ... awesome.

5. An old postcard showing John Lennon holding a pig by the ears. Why? I don't know. But I love it.

6. Photo from Bainbridge Island, WA. Taken from a bar (on the same trip as the mountain photo). Also, just a gloriously amazing day, and a good moment.

7. A postcard showing the painting "Boston Common at Twilight". Happiness on a small square of paper.

8. My sister's wedding announcement. Again, so pretty.

9. A photo that one of my folks took on a family vacation to Rangely, Maine. My parents don't really enjoy having their photos taken, so I don't have one kicking around, but this one always makes me think of them. (Also, I didn't go on that trip, and they felt bad, so they named a lonely little duck that was always hanging around the dock after me ... the idea of a duck named Yellie makes me laugh every time).

10. A photo my dad took in the backyard of the house I grew up in -- full moon, dark sky, the silhouette of a tree. Love. LOVE.

On my desk, there is a photo of my grandfather that was taken in 1952. It's hard to be stressed out when my grampa is smiling at me... and also? The picture reminds me that sometimes, what I think is a ravine IS a ravine... and that I can get through it. I've done it before.

I have the photos to prove it. :)