Month: November 2012

“My Life is Not My Own!”

kanniduba2 Comments

A dear friend, in a moment of frustration facing some very real challenges, said this to me the other day.  And I was ready to chime right in, “Neither is mine!!”  This phrase has come to me again and again over the past several days, for example, when I’m trying to have a moment of privacy to use the bathroom and Mister is knocking for some urgent plea that can’t wait (in a five year old’s life, everything is urgent…to quote Dustin Hoffman’s Captain Hook: “WANT WANT WANT MINE MINE MINE NOW NOW NOW!!!”)

(Speaking of Captain Hook, have you seen the new beeeyooooteeeeful Captain Hook from Once Upon a Hottie Time…?)

What’d I tell ya? eh, eh?

Anyway.  *sigh*

OK, wait…what was I saying???

Oh, yes!!!  In the words of Captain Hook, “WANT WANT WANT MINE MINE MINE NOW NOW NOW!!!” This is the world of a five year old, and those of you who have ever lived with one of these creatures knows that your life is certainly not “your own” as long as this creature is near you.

Add in another child clamboring for attention and warm fuzzies, and a teenager who is beginning the necessary task of exercising her still fragile wings, and there isn’t a moment in which to think about your own life, let alone have one.  Something always needs doing, someone else’s needs are always above your own, and it is easy to fall into the pitiful refrain,  “My life is not my own!!!!!”

And yet….I have begun to think, is anyone’s?  My life IS my own because this is how I have chosen to spend it.  Maybe I didn’t realize I was signing up for a lifetime of servitude when I chose to raise a family, but I DID know it would mean my immediate wants and needs would take a back seat.

Think of the soldiers…their life is not their own.

Think of good parents…their life is not truly their own.

Think of the elderly in the nursing home…their life is not their own.

Think of the ill…their life is certainly not their own.

Think of those caring for aging parents, handicapped children, disabled spouses…not their own, not their own, not their own.

How dare I allow myself even one moment of “poor me?”

My life is not my own…and I am blessed that it isn’t.  For if it was truly “my own” it would be empty, lonely, meaningless.

Today, I thank God for the children who need me, the husband who keeps me, the house that needs constant care, and the ability to know the difference between sacrifice and fulfillment.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” -Albert Einstein  (Click)

Scott’s Call for Color

kanniduba2 Comments

Well well well!  Seems I’ve come alive just in time for Scott’s last photography assignment of 2012!

This new assignment is “Color Composition” and Scott has (as always) included some helpful links to articles on the very subject.  This assignment is due to be posted on or before Midnight (your time zone), Wednesday, November 21, 2012.

Thought I would search through some of my old photographs to see if I could find a few worthy examples.  I found a few, but discovered in my search that I rely much more heavily on line, shape, and placement of the subject than I do on color.  Should be an interesting challenge to focus on just color.

Happy Hunting!!

Adding to the Noise

kanniduba8 Comments

“And then…all the noise! All the noise, noise, noise, noise!

If there’s one thing I hate…all the noise, noise, noise, noise!

And they’ll shriek, squeak, and squeal racing round on their wheels,

Then dance with jin-tinglers tied onto their heels!”

 

“They’ll blow their flu-flubers, they’ll bang their tar-tinkers,

They’ll blow their hoo-hoovers, they’ll bang their gar-dinkers!

They’ll beat their trum-tookers, they’ll slam their sloo-slunkers!

They’ll beat their blum-blookers, they’ll wham their hoo-whunkers!”

 – The Grinch (Dr. Seuss)

 

Do you ever wonder if your simply adding to The Noise?

I have been posting to this blog for nearly five years now.  Recently I’ve been quiet.  I could claim it’s because I have been busy, which I have.  I could claim it’s because I have nothing to say, but I do.  I could claim it’s because my photography has taken a back seat, which it has, and yet that’s not the real reason.

It seems I am simply tired of all the noise.

And I don’t want to add to it.

Who am I to spout my personal opinions?  Who really needs or wants to hear them?

Who am I to teach anyone about photography? I am an Amateur.

Who am I to share things about my family?  Does anyone really care what goes on in my little corner of the world?

Who am I to take readers along on my life journey?  We all have our own to travel.

There’s that well known saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

I am wondering if we should be living by the saying, “What happens in your head stays in your head.”

At times I feel like shutting up.

At times I feel like writing a book.

At times I feel like standing on my Soap Box and telling everyone what I REALLY think…about religion, about politics, about education, about social issues, about technology and jobs and God and Purpose.

But who am I to share any of those things?

There are already too many quality Mommy Blogs. And quality Cooking Blogs. And quality Photography Blogs. And quality Renovator Blogs.  And useless  “I-Want-To-Spout-Off-Into-The-Universe-Anything-That-Comes-Into-My-Teeny-Tiny-Close-Minded-Brain” Blogs.  Do I really need to be another one?  A mediocre one at that?

Who really wants to hear it?

Am I simply………………..

 

 

 

 

 

Adding to the Noise?

 

Perhaps.

And yet….

And yet….

I think I will continue.

For this is MY place…My memory is stored here.  My joys, My sorrows, some frustrations, My Journey, My evolution as a human being.

And I think I will continue.