One Year Ago Today

..from the valley to the mountaintop

Newport Beach Pier | 2015 | shot on iPhone, pano mode

I can still see myself barely standing on the storm driven uneven sand mound, old beach chair on my back, bag tossed over one shoulder, one foot in an awkward boot shoe.

I drove my automatic 2011 TDI Jetta Station Wagon (boot on right foot) down to Canon Solutions America, in Irvine, California, where they still had a service center, to drop off what was my first and most prized digital camera. Hopeful, but I doubted it could be repaired.

There was a shrug upon examination and off I went, southbound, to kill time at the beach. It was 4 p.m. and northbound weekday traffic was typically hellacious. I had long done this on shoots and it was a pleasure to drive home, mostly traffic-free, after 7pm. Boot thrown into the equation.

As I climbed the mound, I noticed the most beautiful sunset and a skim-boarder running for the ocean. In that split-second dash I heard the voice of someone saying “excuse me.” I had already scrambled for my iPhone 5, realizing I didn’t have a camera, hoping the skim boarder would keep up the momentum. There was a certain freedom and exhilaration I was feeling inside after surviving a fall from the top of a six-foot ladder three weeks prior. I needed to get this shot.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the young lost man and said, “yes, can I help you?” He needed directions and I, iphone in hand, pano mode set, assessing the situation that I most desperately desired to capture, said, “hold on a minute,” as I began a slow and steady, almost one-footed, weighted down pano of the skim boarder running into the dusky sunset. There was no way it was going to come out and no way I was going to miss trying.

Immediately afterward, I happily obliged, sent the young man on his way, stumbled to a smooth spot on the sand and stared. The phone rang and it was a gentleman from the Canon Service Center telling me that the motherboard of my camera was completely destroyed and irreparable. Guess it didn’t like taking the brunt of the ladder fall for my already torn up knuckles. I told them they could dispose of it.

With that, I opened my photo library, looked at my shot and realized that I had indeed captured it evenly and well. A culmination of a near tragedy, a broken body and spirit, a “good to be alive” moment that made me weep, alone on the sand.

Life sure has its seasons.

Like the pano that lives huge in the hallway of my home, nothing feels better than crawling through a valley, rising upon the sand driven mound, wind sweeping through worn out eyes, giving all the Glory to God.

I am alive, renewed again. Three years in. From the low valley to the mountaintop above, with a healthy guarded heart, and more lessons under my belt.

The Family I Keep, that I love, is coming around and for that I remain quietly exuberant, letting God hold my hand as He pulls back the curtain for beautiful glimpses into the unknown. Every day is a new gift. I have complete trust, as I handed over the keys to my life once again.

So… I will leave this here with a quote from a post called Silver Linings back in March, as the breakthroughs were occurring…

“My favorite book of the Bible is Ecclesiastes and it’s message of timeless wisdom. To ponder our existence, to be here is worth a cry. To live for eternity is worth patience with oneself and daily practice.”

One year here. Thank you for the support.

Peace be with you all.

Deb ox

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 
    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
 
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 
    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 
    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 
    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 
    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

- Ecclesiastes 3:3-8