Breathe the Salty Air

It's Easter weekend and my family usually takes our sailboat out for a trip.  The excitement leading up to this trip was at peak levels.  We were going to hit up this really great town.  A hippie-town some might say, but having a tendency to be a bit of a hippy, I am not one to judge.  There's a market, where you can buy everything from moccasins, to feather earrings, to the BEST GOAT CHEESE you will ever eat.  Plus there are a few great shops, both boutiques and second-hand, that cause me to drool with the mere thought of them.  However, nature decided it should not be destiny for us to visit this time.  Instead, the wind whipped up a nice 80 km/hr breeze, and some 20 foot waves.  Not exactly ideal conditions if you ask me.  So muttering mutinously under my breath we headed down the dock to the boat which, to be entirely honest, is only fractionally better than a tent for warmth.
Throughout the day I shivered, ate, played some cards, shivered a little more, and watched poor wrecked boats being towed in from the ocean.  One boat even had this pump going, and by the amount of water spouting out, you would have thought there was a lake inside.  Probably was, now that I think of it ;)
So yes, a bittersweet Friday, however it was followed by the lovliest of Saturdays.   A gorgeous, much-less-windy sail home for 4 hours.  Beautiful heeling, and only a minor near-death encounter.  Okay, maybe we didn't quite reach the level of near-death encounter, but it was still pretty scary.  We managed to get ourselves right up beside a nice and lovely pointy rock.  Out of sheer indecisiveness, yet due to some miracle we managed to pull it together and ride off into the sunset.  Ok- scratch the sunset, but it was epic nonetheless. 
A trip to be remembered, if not for the pleasure it provided, but for the number of changes in plan we went through.

Life slips through our fingers like sand through the open hands of a toddler.  So soon we forget that one moment of happiness from yesterday.  Or that breaking-through-all-barriers feeling that seems to be unforgettable.  Or that moment when we could truly say that we were the happiest we had ever been in our lives.  So much for hindsight.  I find it difficult enough to remember what I did yesterday, let alone years in my past.  So in an attempt to preserve my memories, I have taken to photography.  Not necessarily taking pictures of myself and friends as we laugh over the stupid thing someone has said, but more of the moments of beauty.  Those visions that come upon my eyes and I am so taken aback by their presence that I gasp out loud.  Those are the ones.  So that days and weeks and years from that moment I can look back at it, and gasp all over again.  Feel that same rush of awe and never forget that I was happy.  For I often find myself looking for such reminders when I am down in my "pit".  And what is the pit you may ask?  It's the representation of my mood.  It's that deep-down-to-your-core cold, icy aching feeling that seems as if it will never go away.  It's that loneliness, that shut down, incapable, hopeless, I'll never get out of here feeling.  And while it does go away, it likes to linger.  So I battle it with my photos. 
Above is a link for a photo I have entered in a contest.  Please take a look at that one and the others I have submitted.  And try taking a few photos yourself.  You don't have to take a class, have a great camera or be a professional of any kind.  I'm certainly not.  You just have to enjoy the journey (and hopefully the end product!).

Snap em up.  And I'd love to see what you come up with.
K

Soft footfalls
Greet the Earth
with the gentleness
of a caress.
Sliding smoothly on the sand
heel, arch, toes.

Life has been a mess for me for the past while, and I realized that perhaps this could be an outlet for my discoveries, memories, and adventures.  You don't have to follow me, for I don't pretend to be more than ordinary, but this is me.  Unedited.