The Eyes of A Cynic

For the past several years, every time I've left the Sam's Club I've wondered if the little lady checking the receipts as you leave has ever actually busted anyone for stealing something. A few bulk shopping trips ago, thinking I'd get a good story, I asked in a playful tone, "So, have you ever really busted anyone for trying to steal something?" She looked at me seriously with a stern face and said, "No, just once in a while we'll find something that a checker forgot to ring up." As I headed to my car I tried to remember the point in my life at which an honest mistake became an impossibility.

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Damn you msn.com!

Here I am having, a decent time on a Friday night. Listening to music, making a birthday cake. I jump on line, check my email, log out and then....

The story in the middle of the page reads: "A Final Look Up for a Little Girl: Pixar fulfills dying wish for 10 year old."

Decent time over.

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Pictures

I've recently started taking pictures again. I'm not sure why I ever stopped. It's not as though one day I said, "Screw you pictures I quit you." I think it's quite simply, taking pictures requires a certain level of commitment that often eludes me. All of the "Low Battery" and "Memory Card Full" jibber jabber is super demotivating. Consider:

MOCK SCENARIO 1: What? Something cute is happening? Oh hold on, let me get my camera. Ah shit where did I put it? "Bren, where's the camera? On fridge...okay got it." Hold on kids! Keep doing that cute thing you're doing! I'm almost there! Oh man hold on, the batteries are dead. Let me change them quick. Keep holding that pose. Triple A, Triple A, 9 Volt, C...."Damnit! Bren do we have any more double A batteries?"

MOCK SCENARIO 2: What? Something cute is happening? Oh hold on, let me get my camera. Ah shit where did I put it? "Bren, where's the camera? On fridge...okay got it." Hold on kids! Keep doing that cute thing you're doing! I'm almost there! Sweet! Full battery! "Okay, say cheese" "Sonofabitch! What do you mean Memory Card Full?!" Ahh, let me see (reviews pics in play mode). Should I delete the one of the girls holding hands on the swing, or the blue sky with a cumulonimbus formation?

Despite the inevitability of the above scenarios, I've pushed forth in the face of adversity and I have to tell you, I'm happier. Over the past 3 weeks I've taken more pictures than I have in the past 2 years and it's fantastic. Our 10 day, 2 state family vacation was better than I had imagined and I've got over 150 pretty damn decent pics to look back on. Yippee, hooray, good for you one might say, but what is the point? Precisely this: Life is better when you take pictures of it. People can experience wonderful things, almost anything they want to, backpacking through Europe, watching the sun set from a mountain top, witnessing the birth of a child, whatever. But I ask you, what good is an experience without an embrace? Actively taking pictures requires an engagement that validates the moment. It's the affectionate acceptance of a memory.

And so, I encourage you to hug your memories - take more pictures!

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