For the love of it…
Occasionally, I try to go out with my camera all by myself, and photograph what inspires me - for the love of it. I consider it medicine for my soul, and always feel that wonderful “falling in love” feeling again. Today I decided to go out to Bay Pines and photograph the annual flag decorating that the local boy scout troops do the Saturday before Memorial Day.
Watching the boys and men gingerly placing a small U.S. flag by every one of the 1,000 or so gravesites that marked the fallen heros of our country was the best Saturday morning I’ve experienced in a long while. As I gazed around, gratefulness came to mind as the emotion of the moment.
I’m grateful for the boys and men out there in the rain, placing flags in honor. I’m grateful for those who risked their lives for the freedoms that we are granted but should never take for granted. I’m grateful for the ability to walk and breathe as an able bodied person, as I know so many who struggle simply to move from one room to another.
P.S. Bay Pines
Before I left Bay Pines, curiosity got the best of me, as I hadn’t been there in many years and had forgotten how beautiful the hospital area and grounds are. I wandered around a building that has a long logia around it with lovely arches looking out to a treed area, and gradually made my way back to the front of the building, since it was now beginning to rain harder, it was time to head home.
Following the sidewalk to my car, there was an old gentleman coming up the walk with his wheeled walker, his umbrella and his futile attempt at staying dry as the rain drops began falling harder and faster. As we neared one another, he heard my footsteps, and tried to look up from under the brim of the umbrella, but it fell forward instead, totally blocking his view of anything but my feet. “Good morning” I said softly. He pulled the umbrella back and peered up from under the edge, - “Good morning” he replied, beaming this wonderful smile at me, “how are you?” “Great” I replied, “how are you doing?” “Alright-y” he replied. As we passed one another, I turned to look back at his progress, and thought to myself, “Little old man, bent from age or injury, walking in the rain, with probably the most sincere ‘how are you today?’ of anyone I can remember…yes, I’m am truly grateful”.
