Shutter Sisters

Hanging onto our Reminders

By

In my office, there is a string of very random photos that trail across the windows. I call them “My Reminders.”

Each photo is one that bring me back to a time or place that helped me to remember who I really am, and what really matters.

During one of the most difficult times in my life, a very beautiful family took me to their home in Italy. Prior to going I was barely making it out of bed and existing on a diet of smokes and coffee. But they rescued me and gave me this trip of a lifetime. I was surrounded by kindness, beauty, art, music, mountains, and all the magic of the Tuscan countryside. And the food! ~Lets just say I learned the art of dining and enjoying meals created with romance and with love. Impossible for me to explain my time there, but it somehow rescued me…

This was the very last photo I took. It’s funny, because it was taken in the garage, just as I was getting in the car to head for the airport.

But I remembered thinking at that moment, “I cannot return to my old life.

I am committing to start living and enjoying the second half.” I made that promise at that very spot.

This is one of the photos which hangs along the windows, and I find when I am entering a funk or a negative pattern of thinking, all it takes is a look at that shot, to remind me and return me to center.

Sometimes our most valued photos are not the ones that will make sense to anyone, or get any kind of attention….But those special shots carry incredible worth if they remind you what really matters in life…

I wonder if you have a photo that may not mean anything to anyone but you…

Lets keep those shots around to keep us focused on caring for our hearts. And of course, if you’d like to share it today, we’d be happy to see it.

Image and words courtesy of Jen Gray. A dear friend and a true talent.

Comments

  2. oh jen.
    i know this feeling well, and so this, what you described here really brought me to tears:
    "But I remembered thinking at that moment, "I cannot return to my old life. I am committing to start living and enjoying the second half." I made that promise at that very spot."

    i too, have that photo, where i stood thinking that, knowing that, accepting that truth. consciously stepping forward from that point on. and it only means something to me, and it’s as big as the world.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2574212549/

    thank you for writing this today.
    i’ve missed your words and how they seem to speak right to me 🙂
    xo

  3. They say, ‘No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made.’, but I don’t know that this is entirely true. I think sometimes there are moments when we clearly see the crossroads ahead 🙂

  6. seems like all the moments that have been pivitol, the moments when my life changed…. there wasn’t a camera in my hand. (which in my case, that is strange, I always have a camera in my hands and my life revolves around photos.) it was a moment. a glimpse. a thought, and they like your line of photos are lined up in my memory for which I go back an refer to and move forward from.

    Very good entry. Thank you for sharing.

  7. what a beautiful post. Beautiful, from the soul. I do have such a photo but not lined up on my window — what a great idea. Because mine is not posted online, I cannot share it right now but it certainly does for me what your row of photos does for you. Thank you for this.
    (this is who I am anyway: http://www.dianeschuller.com/blog)

  9. Wow, both the words and the picture are so beautiful and touching. Thank you so much for sharing!

    I’ll go and get my box of photos and find the ones that make me happy and centered.

  11. I do not have anything to share but I just wanted to say that this post was beautiful. Thank you for sharing. =)

  12. Oh Jen! I love this photo! And this post is so special. I have tons of those pics that just make my heart stop for a second. Some are blurry and completely faded, but still. It’s just a great idea to hang them up. I will work on that. Loved seeing your magical energy here at SS. Thanks for sharing your story with us! xo

  13. I have an entire album of my own personal favorites on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleach226/sets/72157600841439773/).

    This picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleach226/381546680/in/set-72157600841439773/) was one of the very first pictures I took with my first digital p&s in January 2005. It’s a bit grainy and could never be printed in a larger format, but I love it all the same. It reminds me to look everywhere and see everything.

    This picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleach226/213766493/in/set-72157600841439773/) I just adore. It means so much to me.

  14. This photo means the world to me.My mom and me against the world. She is a great mom!!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/debbsga/4268818694/

    She has lung cancer now and other health issues and im so thankful for the time we had together and continue to be blessed everyday having her still in my life. She was diagnosed 7 yrs ago to live 4 months.I believe in miracles.

  15. http://www.flickr.com/photos/egipson/3659354909/in/photostream/

    I was raised part city girl, part country girl in a desert in the mountains, but now spend my days in a bustling metropolis. My bones have missed the desert every day since. It was my first time home in a while and we needed to go out to irrigate. This shot was taken just as we crossed into the field and the dogs were taking off to play. There is so much joy in this photo, in the land that welcomes me back into its loving embrace, in the ears of my dog as he bounds off to play, in the posture of my step-father as he takes it all in and feels gratified in the work he knows best (I have to love the shovel on the shoulders and the gloves in the back pocket). This day was perfect, the sky, the sun, the lush green grass tucked in by the craggy, sagebrush-strewn hillside. This photo brings me home whenever I start to feel lost or disconnected. It reminds me to work hard and be proud of the work that I do, but to not be so consumed as to miss the experience as it is happening. It is warm, sunny, home.

  16. Thank you for sharing this touching post. You are so right about the power of images to convey so much meaning. It is amazing how a glance at a picture can show us where we’ve been and inspire us to keep moving towards where we’re going.

  21. oh you are all so dear! and thank you for your kind words and for sharing with me your photos and moments. Its like having a friend who shares a page from their diary….

    big love to you…
    jen gray