June 27th, 2017

 Last night at exactly 8:18 I said to Tim, "It's gong to be a pretty sunset tonight".  That's all I said. An innocent observation.  He said, "Well, let's go then". We chose to drive  rather than walk because sunset was going to be at 8:28. We can walk to the beach in ten minutes of course, but we would have missed the prettiest part.  So we jumped into his car and off we went.

One of our favourite sunset viewing spots is the Jetty, which was our destination. When we arrived, however, the parking lot was full. Not just full, but full to overflowing. What the heck?  I expect this sort of parking lot nonsense during "the season" but it's almost July for heaven's sakes!  Tim gamely circled for a few 'rounds but it was clear that the above out-the-window-photo was going to be the be the only shot I was going to get last night at the jetty.

I still found it to be an interesting picture.  Especially the  words which kind of acted like a caption for the photograph, "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear".  Hmmmm, the things behind me are closer than I think they are.   Emotionally?  I believe that to be true.  All this sorting through those darned "memory bins" that I've been doing has made me realize how true that is.

I never thought of myself as the sort of person who dwells in her own personal past.  Once something has happened (with very few exceptions) its done, it's gone, it's behind me.  Or at least I thought that was the case.  If that were true, why would I have saved all those bins worth of personal history?  Sentimentality?  Nostalgia? I honestly don't know.

JoDee Messina, the country singer, has a song, "ByeBye" with this line, "Got a lead foot down on my accelerator and my rear view mirror town off so I ain't ever looking back".  Okay that's not me.  I'm not intentionally running (or in her case, driving) from my past. I just didn't consciously think there was a reason to linger My focus was always the future. So I thought I was always moving forward.

But as I eye these towering stacks of bins that I now have committed to sorting through, I find that the past is indeed, closer than it seems.

 So as I continue sorting through this towering stack of bins, I am inundated with things that once were.  I read every card, look at every photo, admire each art project and I remember, before moving on to the next. And because I am moving so slowly through it, this project is going to take forever!

And that sunset last night?  Still got a good shot. Just not from where we usually go.  A little further down the same road, Tim pulled off by a marina and I got this shot. . A different perspective is sometimes the best idea. And maybe that is the best spot to view our life history too, from a different place.