two roads

early morning on the lake

It's been a week since I posted on my blog. For most of that time I have been up north with Sophie and we both loved. every. minute. of. it. We walked. We squinted in the early morning sun. We breathed in cold, fresh, winter air. We welcomed the first few days of 2009 with a renewed spirit and the notion that it was going to be a good year. A year for the soul.


my soul dog

For years, I have walked a road in life that ran parallel to another road....a hazy whisper of another road. And from where I walked I would often glance over wistfully and longingly at that other road....and at the different, better version of myself walking on it. The girl on that other road was the person that I always wanted to be....the person that I desperately wanted to be reflected in other people's eyes when they looked at me. And, man, did she shine.


reflection

I don't know all the reasons why I have never been able to make those two roads merge....laziness, insecurity, fear, uncertainty were all definitely part of it. But I also know that I was never really able to articulate how to get to that version of me....how did that girl live, how did she spend her time, what was bringing her such joy, such a genuine sense of self? And that's the difference now. Now I know.


sunrise over the lake

Those two roads started to come closer together when Sophie arrived in my life. She started changing the way I viewed the world and my place in it. She also led me to writing. And now she has led me to photography. Each of these things has brought those roads closer together....and I can see now, for the first time, the rest of the work that I need to do to be that girl that shines.



shining sophie