Into The Light...

For far too long, I've always wondered what we see first, the fire or the smoke. These California days are synonymous with both smoke and fire and it's making it nearly impossible for us to breathe. In all actuality, the state of the world is making it difficult for me to breathe, so it's only fair that I don't blame the air quality for my red eyes and smoker's cough.

My camera lens has been my saving grace for so long; I find myself peering through my viewfinder and pausing time just long enough that the image(s) captured tell their own stories. It's funny to think that I've taken over 25,000 pictures within a seven year run and it's also funnier to think of how many stories I still have yet to tell.

We are currently living in times which can be deemed as being dark yet many of us hold the light which is needed for our very survival. The light which I'm referencing is that of hope. As interesting as it is, there's a sense of hope within the eyes of the child pictured below, he is both hopeful and at peace. Remember, I wondered what we see first, the fire or the smoke; not many would observe too much other than this.

Tonight, I've come to a place of completion, a place where I'm at peace within the space which I so often sit in, a place of quiet, a place of darkness mixed with a bit of light. In May, I released my last newsletter, without the thought a month later my world, along with the world of others, would be rocked by the passing of a dear friend. I'm unsure how I've clawed and crawled to this point, how I've managed to follow the flickering bit of light up to this point and not lose my way within the darkness.

The truth is I'm more sure than unsure as to how I've made it; I've made it due to the love shown by some of you reading these words, for without you I know I would have collapsed. My father recently told that he had never heard me cry in the manner in which I cried on June 20th, I've cried in ears of my boss, I've cried in the presence of some of my dearest friends, I've cried in the darkness, but most importantly I've cried within the light.

My path to right now hasn't been easy over the last few weeks but then I sit and think of all the goodness which has also come my way through patience and perseverance over the last few weeks, as well.

For all those who feel as they're isn't a way out of the darkness, I pray that you search for just a little bit of light, because within that light, you'll find hope and a bit of peace (I promise).

"Without the hope the people perish..." the same can be said of light.