Is the color of your pants, Azul? Si...

Look, life is sort of like a boomerang, there are times we throw goodness into the wind and comes back and reminds us that the world isn't so big and there are other times it doesn't come back at all.

I took the picture of the little munchkin below, in the summer of 2017 when she was a little older than a year. This is the adopted daughter of my boss, who actually has five adopted kids in his household, six kids in total, who range in from 4yrs - 15yrs old. For years I've always taken my hat off to parents who remain present within the lives of their kids, simply due to the fact being present in this day and age is an art in and of itself. One child under any roof can be demanding but six (closes eyes and places hand on forehead) "Jesus take the wheel, I'm fixin to drink this drank right quick..."

Three years ago, I saw things much differently behind the camera than I do now, I like to think I've progressed instead of regressed during this time. A friend of mine quipped about a year and a half ago, "Do you ever shoot vertically, liiiiiikeeeee..." Perhaps my maturation has come due to the fact I'm providing myself more options than before to to capture a story, I'm taking a few more chances, being a wee bit more patient, and yes, yes, Bear, I'm shooting vertically too.

For three years, I've passed this picture from time to time and thought about the little kid who just stood so quietly in the corner while a bunch of adults were convening for a meeting in her backyard. There was something about those little eyes as they stared back at me, I didn't need to make noise to capture her attention, she was looking through the camera and me.

I've visited my boss's residence another half a dozen times since this picture was taken and I've never bumped into the munchkin again, she has ALWAYS been out doing munchkin things with her mom or her grandma; remember I led this off with the boomerang for a reference.

Just as fate would have it, one of my last visits to my boss's place, who did I happen to run into and who took to me like we'd been friends since jump! The little munchkin not only speaks English but she's speaking Spanish as well and hit me with a "Si..." after we'd exchange pleasantries or I'd ask her a yes or no question; it was one of those evenings when everything just seemed to align correctly and it only took three years to materialize.

My wants in life are pretty simple and perhaps more naive than anything else but they're still real. The smile on the face of an adult or child is amazing and for decades now, I've been allowed to share in thousands of moments which have led to laughter, which have led to smiles.

The first thing you want to do is get a pup which looks at you the way this stud of a pup looks at me and then secondly find a little munchkin who wants nothing more than to tell you what's on their mind and then say, "Si..." then you say, "Estas seguro, mijita..."

I smiled a lot this day and I remembered that life is like a boomerang, sometimes the throw matters sometimes the wind matters, 100% our ability to catch it when it returns is what completes the fun.

"Estoy seguro de eso..."