Thursday, March 27, 2008

Specks and Giants







I spent the spring break week visiting my parents. They live two hours north of Victoria in a beautiful little town called Qualicum Beach. One of my favourite places to hike in that area is Little Qualicum falls...we spent the day there together, trekking through the lush rain forest, deeply breathing in the fresh cool air, marveling at the intense power of the thundering falls...it's such a powerful place. My mom and I were like excited children, exploring the forest floor for tiny life forms to photograph up close. Some of these things were so tiny...the size of a grain of rice! As the saying goes, nature teaches us that we are both specks and giants. So true!

Sometimes when I return from a visit with my family, I come home feeling a little sad, a little empty inside, and it used to really bother me. I would think to myself, why am I not content to return to my everyday life? Is there something missing? Am I not living as fully and with as much joy as I would like? And then it hit me. The reason I feel this way is because when I am around the people close to me, especially my mom and dad, I am blanketed with so much love, so it can be hard to say goodbye. I realised it's not that my life is empty...it's quite the opposite! I now come home feeling full... with a heart overflowing with gratitude, and a deep knowingness that I am loved :)

6 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful...your connection with your mom, and dad.

    The photographs are breathtaking! There is nothing like a trek through a rainforest, is there? We truly are specks and giants.

    I was born and raised in Victoria, and it always makes me a little homesick when I'm reminded how lovely Vancouver Island is...
    Thanks for sharing these.

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  2. Beautiful 'magical' photos....

    and yes...coming and going back 'home' is sad and happy in one...how wonderful to still have that home to go to...

    don't you sometimes feel like a little girl in their home...as if you are only 7/8 years old...nd life is good and great and magical in itself...? and then going home reality check...life have indeed moved on?

    just wondering xx

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  3. i love hiking that area, it is so beautiful and seeing these photos makes me almost smell the lushness ... sigh.

    i think this will be the first summer in a very long time that i will not be going to the island so am happy i can live vicariously through your beautiful photos ...

    xo

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  4. Hello there! I just followed you here from celeste's blog and have really enjoyed poking through your posts. You are an amazing photographer!! I look forward to reading more!!!

    It's very nice to meet you.

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  5. I'm so touched to read about your parents, how wonderful! Yes, to come home and feel grateful. Those photos make me long to see that area, looks magnificent. x

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  6. You are loved. And very, very talented. Oh, my friend, these images are amazing.

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