1. Lighthouse, 2. A marker - I was here, 3. Through the back of the wardrobe
Today's Friday Flickr Faves is an unusual one, in that they're all my own photos, rather than someone else's.
I am always pensive this time of year, slightly depressed, considering my successes and failures on this trip around the sun, planning for the next; but this year is different. I have been considering future tense in the long term, rather than the short, and have come to the realization, that right here, right now, is where I choose.
Oddly enough, these pictures I took this past summer have led me to the answer.
My explanation, such as it is, follows:
1. The Lighthouse
This light house it is at the end of the spit where I live. The lighthouse looks old and abandonded, finished in its life's purpose, but look closely, and you'll see the solar panel that gives it life anew. I have always loved the lighthouse for that reason.
But, too, I love that lighthouse, because when I stand underneath it, gazing at and becoming lost in the seemingly endless water ahead the wind ruffling my hair, and the scents rolling in with the waves beckoning me to a life of adventure; when I begin to move again, I always feel as if I'm taking the first step in a great journey, even if it isn't by sailing off to the edge of the world.
But again, perhaps I am.
2. I Was Here
I wondered if its maker had meant it as art, or a marker - a message to the world. "Once, I was here." Or was s/he simply bored while others in his or her party carried on pursuits they were uninterested in, forming this with as much reflection as someone else might skip stones?
I clambered down the preacrious edge of the spit to acknowledge and preserve whatever it was intended to be in a photograph. And when I saw the way the photograph had turned out, I wondered about many things. Including art, its makers and the messages - intended and not - and how the very act of observation assigns meaning and importance.
At the bottom of the spit, underneath the lighthouse, I had bent over to look at an interestingly raddled piece of paper, to see whether I could still read what was written there, and as I was coming up, I looked through this tunnel.
In my late 40's, my mid-life crisis has manifested itself in a recovery of child-like wonder and I am consequently given (and give in to) flights of imagination. I clambered down the rocks (against the protests of my Beloved Spouse) to capture this image, I imagined it as portal to another place or being, a first step on a quest.
Sadly, my adult body, though far, far smaller than my imagaination, was large enough to prevent me from travelling that particular journey; so I left the portal for its intended traveller, and hoped for another path.
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And so I am here, a fork before me, a new year about to begin, standing on the cusp. I am both the princess and the prince in this story, but I still am not quite sure which door to pick. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Thank you for the link to a lovely tale - I've been thinking about it all day since I read it. When you get to a crossroads or a fork in the path, sometimes old things have to go to make room for the new things. But I like to think I can grow to encompass both but not to be hard on myself if I don't manage perfection straight away:-)
ReplyDeleteOr maybe there is a third door full of possibilities? Options that aren't maybe visible yet?