#2

A second foray into our secret cupboard and another random photo wallet extracted. This time I will scan four selected photos and write about them. All were snapped and printed before I acquired my very first digital camera which was twenty years ago so these prints are now very much historical. 

Long ago I wrote on the "Quality Prints" wallet "Britanny June 91 & 92 + Loire and Normandy 87" so I am expecting a bit of a mixture when I dip inside

Above - pictures taken in the north of France but because I never wrote on the back of my prints I cannot tell you in which little town I spotted the old black Citroen car. And maybe it was the same day but there's our Ian at the age of eight or nine with an interesting lace curtain behind him. It depicts two children walking in rain. I guess I will have said to him - "Just sit down there son!" before clicking the camera button.

Below, that's me - half a lifetime ago with my little darling daughter - Frances Emily. We were sitting by rocks on the north coast of Brittany. She would have been three in that photo - a few months younger than her own daughter - Phoebe Harriet is right now. Frances was such a sweet child blessed with natural intelligence and kindness - foreshadowing the woman she would become.
We had four French holidays that involved driving to campsites where tents were already set up and fully equipped with camp beds, fridges, cooking stoves, pans and cutlery etc.. Below, I believe that "Sunsites" tent was on the coast of Britanny and there's Shirley, Ian and Frances under the parasol. Ian is wearing the Hull City shirt I bought him. They were great family holidays but harder to remember with each passing year. No matter how we try, we cannot hang on to the past. Before you know it, it will become just a bunch of old pictures in a photo wallet, hidden in a cupboard .


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reality

 God is working. Yesterday I received some snail mail. Two friends spoke life into me at the right time  I’m not going to share exactly what was said, but my soul smiled. Truly smiled. As if they got me. They may never walk in my shoes, but they had true empathy. As I was rereading their words like a true balm, a salve, I heard a song I’d never heard, and I started to grasp life. 

In 12 to 13 years here, I’m starting to process some thoughts. I may never be renowned, known, famous or rich. I’ve not gotten the fairy tale yet, because some lessons don’t come easy. Billy Graham once said mountaintops are for views, but fruit is grown in the valley. I’m hoping fruit can be grown in me, so I can bear it. 

Maybe my dreams are still that, is that my job right now is to be in uncomfortable places. Growth happens outside of comfort zones. My life was never going to be easy, but a hard slog. When being strong is the only way, you learn to adapt. Silver spoons were never my lot. In the long run, I’m seeing that may be the biggest blessing. 

I’m learning to live with the cards dealt my way. Wholly and fully. If it seems likes I’m sad, I’m sorry. I’m learning to live in a reality that isn’t manufactured to fit a crafted story I want the world to believe. If you need to do that, no judgement.  Reality isn’t pretty. It just is. 


Song of the day. Ben Rector The Richest Man in the World

Love yourself and one another



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