Photography: Something Special

Thanks to 60plus for hosting mono Monday. The theme is “middle.”  When I saw this Golden Torch cactus flower blooming today stuck in the middle between a boulder and another cactus, especially in the middle of the hottest stretch of the year, I had to use it.

It’s also World Photography Day.

Photography has become the only thing in my life which I enjoy. As a teacher, I didn’t have much time for anything other than my students and their parents, so I never developed any hobbies.

Unfortunately, due to the stigma of mental illness, I was forced to retire at an early age (48). It was a terrible time and considering I hadn’t developed any outside interests it was even worse.

I followed my mother to Southern Arizona in 2007.  I took on the role as a leader in women’s politics in the state but I gave it up completely to spend more time with my mom. Fortunately,  I found blipfoto. I finally had a hobby, something to enjoy without the pressure of leading others.

Many people who drop by my journal know that my mom lives with me and that I am her primary caregiver. They know about my various ailments and that I will soon be undergoing my 17th surgery since the turn of the century.  But I’ve blipped from hospital beds (even a day I came close to death) and while wearing slings and eye patches. Argh!

So why do I keep doing it? What does it all mean to me?  It’s a distraction from my reality; but most of all it has given me a new appreciation of my surroundings. I see the beauty in a flower, a bird, someone’s eyes, the needle of a cactus, even the ripples of colors in a rock. A pot, a rickety chair or a rusty pipe. I’ve developed a love for the desert and mountains, neither of which I had lived near before. It makes me see and feel and it instills a sense of wonderment in my day. Wonderment!

It also doesn’t hurt that there are amazing people on this site with whom to share these things.  Without this community I would have nothing and I certainly wouldn’t be so in love with what I’m doing. Thanks to everyone  here for giving me this life.