on simplicity (kind of)

To me, the most interesting thing about taking pictures is how much I learn. Not about photography, but about life. Agnes, my camera, has taught me how to truly be calm. It's crazy. I'd been trying to become calmer for over a year, making glacially slow progress, when I got Agnes last May. I didn't realize it, but I think that God was bringing her into my life to teach me. I had to slow down and notice small details to photograph them. Flowers, bugs, fruit, trees, clouds, colored water all came to life in my lens. All of these are simple and free for the looking. To photograph a flower is to actively engage in the process of enjoying God's creation. Doing and being are the most important parts, not getting or fretting, which previously took up a whole lot more of my time. 

Since Agnes, I've started simplifying. I cleared out pounds of clutter from my closets. I don't want to be distracted by too much stuff, and since I'm so ridiculously easily distracted, I've donated anything that did not seem essential to charity. Ahhh. Nice feeling. But don't worry, there's still plenty of stuff in those babies. 

As a patriotic American woman, I feel it my duty to own at least twenty pair of shoes. Don't judge. Especially don't judge if I tell you that I got two new pair today at the epic annual Dillard's New Year's Day sale, which, traditionally, if given the choice I'd rather have a lung removed than miss, and wherein all permanently reduced merchandise is an additional fifty percent off (plus an additional ten percent off if you have the special coupon, which, of course, I always do). Hey, this getting less materialistic is a process. The band-Aid must be removed very slowly. Okay, I confess. It was three pair. But one was technically boots, so do they really count?

The other interesting thing since Agnes is that I've been cooking a lot more from scratch with whole, healthy foods. Part of this is due to the colors. Freshly baked crackling bread is such a zesty shade of brown. Green beans and squash are like art when you really take the time to look at them. Yesterday, I was fixing some snacks for a party and had to grab Agnes. Just look at those tomatoes and kumquats. Amazing. And each little radish is kind of a miracle.

The party was fun - just the regular suspects acting goofy around the game table with snacks and cocktails. 

We are all (except one) over fifty and acting more like toddlers every day. Here's the thing - the older you get the more you realize how short life is, so you might as well laugh at every opportunity and enjoy yourself. 

I hope your New Year is off to a great start and that the year ahead brings you tons of joy and delight.