The Importance of Being Earnest - Final Part

To the point of my series, the Importance of Being Earnest.

9 days ago, I tried to post a picture I had done for my B for her birthday. It was a repeat of a shot I had done 10 years previously and I photographed them side by side. TPTB deemed it to have broken their 'rules' because each of the individual shots on the entry have a thin keyline around them, not a border, a keyline. I have seen many shots on blipfoto that had more blatantly obvious borders around them than my post and despite a promise I would get a reply to my appeal, I have heard nothing from TPTB.

This shot was important to me, to share with you my thoughts on my family and how they had changed in the ten year period. Importantly, how they had grown as people. How they demonstrate a conviction to their family and in their everyday actions and their behaviour towards others. It is fair to say that I was not happy with TPTB's decision and was able to provide examples of other blips more culpable than mine that had survived. I should point out that it in now way had occurred to me to break rules.

My series was born. It leads to today, The Most Important. This is my B. You may have seen her before. The love of my life. The mother of my children. Loving and the most caring person I know. When deciding upon this series and a title for it, I started to list B's qualities, which went something like this, in no particular order;

passionate, impassioned, compassionate, devoted, wholehearted, diligent, eager, fervent, heartfelt, industrious, perseverant, tolerant, purposeful, sincere, warm, zealous, inspirational, motivational, earnest...

....that was when I stopped, for it seemed to me the best word to sum up what went before it to that point and all that could come after it. Showing depth and sincerity of feeling is what she does all day long. To her family, her friends, her patients, strangers, animals and even her enemies. (Cancel that last one. She doesn't have any!)

For example, whilst driving, she let's people out into traffic, she always thanks people for kindness, she consoled a driver who ran into her rather than chastise, she smiles at people who display rage and she always gives the benefit of the doubt to other drivers' stupidity, something she does in all aspects of life.

I have shared my family with you in this series and without question, the qualities my children display to me daily have been inherited from their mother and her efforts in raising them. They are not without their bad points, but I fear they have been inherited from me.

My original blip was my small gift to B. To show her the fruits of her efforts in one image. They were after all, her gift to me, along with her devotion and love for me. No greater gift has any man received.