The Perfect Moment

I’ve been writing a lot today.  Well, ok…I’ve been doing other things too not related to writing but after almost two weeks of feeling “uninspired”, today the prose was there.  I think I have it figured out as to why the delay.  Needless to say, it involves getting out of the house more as well as sticking to what I know works.  I had changed things up there for a bit and, well…

So, after a great session of writing some wonderfully adventurous fiction this morning I’ve been looking at pictures of past outings of mine and thinking how, inevitably, your journey culminates with that one shot of you in the midst of it all.  The thrill, the fun, the adventure!  Feeling a little nostalgic today and I’ve collected a few of my favorite shots from past adventures…

St. Thomas, USVI 1996– My wife and I.  This was one of the first adventures together, and what a way to do it!  We’ve been to the Caribbean twice now, and honestly I can’t wait to get back.  I love this shot

Cahuenga Peak, Hollyweird 2009 – My brother, me and my best friend.  This was New Year’s Day, and while other people were sleeping off hangovers or watching the Rose Parade, these three clowns in the picture were getting up at the crack of dark and driving to go climb a national landmark.  That’s the world famous Hollywood sign in the background.  Super cool day!

La Jolla, California 2011 – Me and my wife.  We’ve kayaked in La Jolla before, but this time we had a waterproof camera with us.  This was actually the start of an amazing weekend.  We kayaked for a couple of hours, got to go inside of the cliffs, I got to surf a little, my wife got to get sunburned a little.  It’s tough for me to have a bad day at the beach.  Luckily her sunburn was minor…

Wrigley Field, Chicago 2008 – Me and my dad.  My dad?  Lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan.  Me?  Lifelong Chicago Cubs fan.  Life in my house growing up was interesting, but luckily my mom is a Cubbies fan too.  So my dad was outnumbered, but St. Louis has more championships (grr…).  Still, this was a trip to the Windy City for he and I just to see the game.  An absolutely amazing adventure.  Cards kicked our butts though (grr…).  Still I managed to have fun.  How can you not?  Chicago in the summertime?  I’m THERE!

Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco 1999 – My wife and I.  My wife served for years as a volunteer coordinator during the commencement ceremonies at the university where she works.  And she’s good at what she does.  So good, in fact, that she was asked by the producer of the annual event if she could work the Santa.com parade in SF that year.  Of course she said yes.  I was invited to work too.  Christina Aguilera performed.  This was before she was diva.  I didn’t get to meet her.  I still had fun.

San Antonio Ski Hut, Mt. Baldy 2009 – Me and my buddy Brett.  See that white stuff floating through the air?  You may be real familiar with it.  It’s called snow.  It’s cold.  I’m cold.  My face is frozen.  That’s not really a smile.

Atlantic Beach, North Carolina 2008 – My brother Jeff and me.  I was in NC visiting both my parents (who live there) and my brother (who was on leave from his tour in Iraq with the Army).  It was stressful at times with my brother because he had only two weeks before he was returning to the reality that was Iraq.  I love that he has never lost his sense of humor.

Close to home 2007 – This is my idea of a perfect summer afternoon with my wife.