365

Day 228:

Trouble playing Trouble with me

Day 229:
So good.

Day 230:
Genny-girl

Day 231:
We loooove coffee

Day 232:
Book shopping!

Day 233:
She made me

Day 234:
We LOVE Kimballs' frappes!

Day 235:
Heart

Day 236:
Novel

Day 237:
Love

Day 238:
Oh yay.

Day 239:
Perfect mix

Day 240:
Happy B-day Mia!

Day 241:
Truth

Day 242:
We have the same glasses

Day 243:
She can touch her nose with her tongue

Day 244:
Girls night: pumpkin spice latte and You've Got Mail. 

Day 245:
We like Frank

Day 246:
Good good movie

Day 247:
First day of school

Day 248:
Reading out loud to the girls

Day 249:
Someone's gettin married :)

Day 250:
Split lighting with a laptop and iphone

Day 251:
I WANT.

Day 252:
Oh, Bob.

Day 253:
Who would be so CRUEL??

Day 254:
Tea

Day 255:
"There's a storm brewin, Harry." 

Day 256:
Its called multi-taskin, peeps

Day 257:
We crazy

Day 258:
Me, every time.

Day 259:
Lego Club

Day 260:
Photography class

Day 261:
Juji got a new haircut, tried on my glasses and they look like twins!

Day 262:
Letter from Africa: made my day!

Day 263:
There's the cat!

Day 264:
Me & mah girl

Day 265:
Our "It's tooo coooold to drink frappes!"

Day 266:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower quote

Day 267:
My new bestie. I got him Geoff. Short for Geoffrey.

Day 268:
Pretty cool clouds.

On and On

New England is famous for its autumns. Clear, blue skies...the brilliant foliage...cinnamon, pies, pumpkin spice lattes, and...apple picking. In spite of school and the stress of homework, I treasure autumn and it ranks high up there as one of my favorite seasons.

Summer is beautiful and wonderful in all of its goldenness, but there's something equally magical about fall. I look around me and see the difference in color of the sunshine, the way the dark comes earlier, the last vibrancy of colors clinging on before winter comes, and I smell the difference in the air.

I was driving toward my sister's place yesterday, Mat Kearney's "On and On" playing as I rolled down my windows. The breeze was cool, the sun still on green leaves, looking like summer, but the taste of fall in the air.

It's hard to imagine goodness, happiness, love...it's hard to know that I am not alone...when I'm at my blackest. It's hard to realize that there are patches of sunshine shining through the dark woods, until you're standing in them. It's hard to smile through fears.

Mat Kearney crooned,

On and on and on we pray, we can break into a brighter day. Nothing worth anything ever goes down easy.
On and on and on we go. I don't understand this windy road. Nothing worth anything ever goes down easy.

And he's right. Nothing worthy anything ever goes down easy. Winning the fight makes the prize that much more valuable.

Facing the fears make the confidence in the end worthwhile.

The smiles and laughter when you've grown through the tears suddenly feel so much more special.

As a photographer, when you look through the lens, you don't just look for the beauty. Your eye scans through the eyepiece, searching for the ugliness, in order to diminish it and exposing the true beauty.

You compose, you expose...you shoot to make beauty your focus. You work to make the perfect picture in the end. You don't just snap the button and have magic. You get magic it by working for it.
You use the ugliness to your advantage.

As I walked through an apple farm with my family today, falling in love with autumn all over again, noting the way the color of the light made everything feel...captivating...I noted that somehow it was worth it all. It is worth the working all week long, the constant studying, the stress, the tears, the fears of the work week to enjoy special, happy moments.

The hard work makes the moments of relaxing that much more restful. Wearing comfy clothes, laughing with little siblings, drinking apple soda...I soaked it all in. Memorizing details, capturing images in my mind as well as on my phone.  Nothing worth anything goes down easy, yet we struggle on and on. Because these moments are worth it all, in spite of the hardships.

Happy Autumn!