This morning at the lake was more about what I didn’t have than what I had.
I had a beautiful start to the morning but apparently no one there to share it with.
This fact was made all the more obvious than the props I used to create my little mini-shoot with and despite the cools pics that I ended up getting, I left the lake feeling quite dissatisfied.
It also didn’t help that I had missed most of my time slot because I had to use an alternate location to shoot. When I arrived at my primary spot, there was too much ambient light from a nearby building and it ruined the early morning darkness that I needed.
I can never understand this aspect of America. They not only have no regard for the wastefulness of energy in leaving every light in a parking lot on throughout an entire night. But, they also don’t think of the effects of light pollution not just on silly photographers like me, but on the whole family of nocturnal creatures that comes alive at night.
I can only imagine the disturbance it causes to such lives that have to seek out new abodes and hunting grounds, just because mankind has an obsession with leaving the light on.
Anyway, that isn’t what this blog is about, so enjoy the pics at the end of the blog, if you make it to the end.
No, what I actually wanted to write about is how there are times in our lives when we seem to be alone but in truth no one ever is completely alone..
When we find ourselves at beautiful moments like an imminent sunrise, for example, there is a distinct benefit to being able to share that moment with someone, or even to toast it with that someone special in your life. Which, was actually the thought behind bringing the glasses with me in the first place.
You see, there are a few people that I have lost over the years that have left major holes in my heart. People like my Dad, my Mom, and Brittany. People that in some ways fashioned who I am or pointed me towards who I might want to be.
When you have been so lucky as I have, in getting to feel the love of some very special people, it is not enough to just remember them.
We need to honor their memory and sometimes, we have to raise a glass and share an experience once more with them.
For me, the most meaningful experience I share is the arrival of a new day or the departure of an old one. Sunrises and sunsets are moments when the world pauses for a moment in its rotation and marks the passage of time.
There is no other such moment in a day, month, or year that marks itself so. All other markings are human in manufacture … a new week, a new year. A new season, a new century … these are all just markings made in human calendars.
But the planet itself gives us each sunrise and sunset and so it is shameful to just take them for granted and show no significance.
In ancient times, pagan Ireland (and likely pagans elsewhere) marked each sunrise and sunset as a time of worship. They worshiped the gods or goddesses responsible for giving them the start and end of each day. They gazed respectfully to each new horizon and gave thanks for the start of another day.
And they likely looked around them at that moment and gave thanks that those they loved were there to share it with them. Which is one reason why “sláinte” (to your health) became the common toast at each sunrise shared.
When loved ones were no longer there “i do chuimhne” (in your memory) became the correct toast as each day ended.
Sharing a moment with those that have passed was very much a part of the Irish culture, to where once a year they shared food and drink at harvest with those that were no longer with them. They set out the food and drink at the graves or stone markers at harvest in the belief that their loved ones would return for just that night and share the moment with them.
This was the feast of Samhain and provides a simple understanding for why we celebrate Halloween these days with images of ghosts, skeletons, and such.
But beyond the history lesson of my last few paragraphs, what I really wanted to express was my belief that moments shared with those we love or loved truly forms the basis for correctly marking the passage of time.
Eventually we pass with time also and hopefully someone will stand on a shore somewhere and raise their glass to us in memory of times we spent in their lives and living moments we shared.
So, I guess my message is simply this … never go to a moment alone, with just a single glass. For, you are never truly alone and the soul waiting for you there may well be thirsty for being remembered.
… just a thought.
