Canyonlands National Park, Utah
{August Break 8/18: 5 Years Ago}
Five years ago I was taking a road trip with my family: five weeks, Chicago to California and back. It was one of those trips of a lifetime, especially because we managed to take that much time off. That trip was also seminal for me because that’s when I began to take my photography seriously, when I discovered, thanks to you, my blog readers, the joy of sharing photographs on my blog, and when I started to put together photo essays.
Five years ago my sister fell off a mountain while hiking in the Dolomite Alps in Italy. I got the call from my brother-in-law on the first morning of our trip. She was badly injured and rescued by helicopter but thankfully her backpack had cushioned her back during her tumble, and she did not break her spine. She made a full recovery, thank God, but it took a long time. All through our road trip, I was sending her a postcard every day not only to wish her well and cheer her up, but also to reminisce because 19 years earlier, she and I had taken a similar road trip together. She loved all those postcards so much that she made a wall display out of them in her home.
Five years ago, on our stopover in Denver, I discovered, while browsing in a Barnes & Noble, the magazine Artful Blogging. This in turn led me to explore other magazines by the same publisher, such as Somerset Life, where I discovered Susannah Conway‘s work, and through reading her book This I Know I happened upon Julia Cameron’s work, and reading that led me to a whole new understanding of the creative process (Morning Pages, etc.!). And, to bring this full circle, Artful Blogging will be featuring my travel photography and writing, in their upcoming November 2016 issue! My article even mentions this very trip I am talking about here.
So, five years ago was big and good and deep and full of meaning for me. Full of beauty, serendipity but also fear–my sister’s accident was an awful reminder that life is precarious, that we have to be thankful for every moment we have each other, and seize the day.
Even if you’re not doing August Break, think back: What were you up to five years ago? I’d love for you to share in the comments! Or share a link to your own blog post!