The long and the short of this is I carry my camera with me everywhere I go, I think at this point in life it's more valuable than my phone. My camera allows me to capture moments/memories and then replay them almost at any point I want to.
When I was a child, I didn't play around bodies of water or go on random trips, instead my family would take the yearly trip up to Yosemite in our family car with me probably having a bad attitude about life; to this day, I wonder how my parents dealt with me.
This post is a bit of an apology to my parents, I missed too many damn signs being shown which were signs of love and sacrifice. At an early age, we're taught about the have's and the have not's, the rich and the poor, the black and the white, the fast and the furious (wait, that came later, I'll digress).
The person I am today, opinionated, stubborn, leery, closed-off, fiery, and scared of failure is the very person I was when I was a child! I genuinely dislike certain people and it's tough to hide my displeasure when I feel as if I've been wronged.
I have no idea how my parents have managed to love me, how they've managed to bypass all of my signs?
There are very few people who truly know me and there are very few people who I care to share who I am with too. It's funny how life works sometimes isn't it, I mean I was the very person I am today back when I was a child.
A week or so ago, I went on a trip and found myself staring in the direction you see in the picture above; I was staring at the sign and thought to myself, "How many signs have I read but failed to understand?" There are signs which are erected in order to warn us of the dangers which exist by not adhering to said signs and there are signs which aren't placed/positioned in a manner for the world to see.
Love is one of those signs...
A week ago, I noticed that I've wasted too much time wrapped up on my own emotions, my own wants, my own adventures, I've lost out on moments which I'll never be able to create ever again in my lifetime, I noticed that my truest loves are my parents and that I need to let them earnestly know how much they mean to me, though we talk routine and say, "I love you".
At 42yrs of age I'm noticing that there's no need to prove myself to anyone, I'm noticing that the people whom I call my friends (real friends) will love me whether I'm at the top of the mountain or the bottom of a hill, I'm noticing that life is bigger than the hustle of trying to make a dollar, I'm noticing that I don't care what you drive, what you wear, or where you eat, and I'm also noticing that it's okay to take a risk not knowing what the outcome will be in the end.
The signs I'm seeing now are: SLOW DOWN, LOVE, SMILE, LAUGH, LISTEN, BE HUMBLE