Elvis' Birthday

Jan 9, 2012     2 Comments    Posted in: Blog

I’ll never have a problem remembering my dad’s birthday. Since he was born the same day as Elvis (and took great pride in that fact) it’s kind of hard to forget. He would have been 70 years old yesterday, which is kind of strange to think about. My dad was pretty creative, although I don’t think he ever would have thought of himself that way. He had this talent for hearing a song on the radio and immediately being able to play it on the piano, picking out chords and all. He was never an artist, but I do remember sitting at the table as a girl with him trying to teach me how to draw. He seemed to know what he was doing, but I was never very good. I thought I had inherited very little talent when it came to creative things. I tried. I took art classes, took piano lessons, but I never felt like I had a special “gift” at doing any of those things. My siblings seemed to have gotten the talents I missed out on. I always felt pretty average. I’m not saying this to feel sorry for myself, it’s just a fact. It took me awhile to find the one thing I felt I could do well. I spent years trying different things, just because I wanted to. I was never any good at any of them, and never really expected to be, until I got to photography. Photography took me by surprise. It still does. I get shocked when I come back from a shoot with images I love. I’m flattered beyond measure when someone buys one of my prints to put in their home. I’m so proud of what I do and thrilled that life is a continuous journey. You don’t have to pick something at 18 and be stuck with that for the rest of your life. You don’t even have to do that at 40 (or, I would imagine, at 60). There is a joy in figuring out new facets of yourself at any age, at least there has been for me. I think my dad would have been proud, not because I’ve discovered some long-hidden talent, but because I’m content in who I am. After all, that’s really what matters, right?

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so foaming, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!

 ~  Soren Kierkegaard

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