Flash Back

That's a pun. I'm going to write today about my long love affair with cameras and pictures.

When I was 12 or so I got my father's old Nikon. Where we lived there were no classes on how to use it and the teenage at the local 1 hour developer was absolutely no help. I would take the pictures and cross my fingers something good would come of it. Sometimes I'd get 1 good picture. I tried black and white film- same results. I longed for someone to show me how.

I dreamed of becoming a photographer for National Geographic. Then we moved to Iowa and the local high school had a college level photography program....that there was a waiting list for and I did not have a chance of getting into. No money either so no class. I took up painting instead, hoping to capture the frames of my imagination in that medium instead.

Fast forward to 2001: my first job out of college I was trained on a Nikon CoolPix digital. DIGITAL! Oh man. I could see the photos as I was taking them. No long wait to see if anything came out. Seriously a huge thing for me.....but a $1,000 camera. So when my job ended so did my access to that dream. I was crushed. (Not to mention that the job is still one I list as the sweetest job ever- driving around rural Iowa taking pictures of historic houses and writing up briefs about them.....talking to people about the value of their properties, grants and resources available to them......ah, yes.)

Lately I would click "camera used" on Flicker when the other mamas posted pictures and then I would drool over mega pixels and picture settings.........and then I would continue on with my camera envy.

So for Christmas of this year, Dearest Husband purchased me my dream camera. What a guy! It was disappointing that it stopped working, but in reality that has just made me more grateful when the replacement came. Now I am going to learn how to use it.

But wait, there's more! Nikon has a monthly challenge for a photo on a theme. I'm going to do the same. No prizes, but fun. So I will post a theme, you post your picture and then a message on my post linking to your post. Make sense? Ah, and they will all be home and family and learning related. Feel free to post a challenge suggestion too!

This week's challenge? Warmth. (I know vague, but simple!)

Twinkle Lights

Twinkle lights. That's how it started, this migraine. My eyes swam with little blinking lights and then suddenly every sound was like a freight train and when I closed my eyes it was like watching a lava lamp. It took me down hard. I haven't had a migraine for years, tension headaches but not full on migraines.

I feel better now, mostly. Hungry. Tired. Blank.

On a happy note: my camera is back (well, the replacement they sent)! I can't wait to get it out and reprogram the settings. ;)

Iowa Caucuseseseseseses

They are over. Now I can drive downtown without fear of running over a politician or a future president or a CNN crew. It was getting pretty ridiculous.

I once rode my bike (age 14) into a neighbor's Cadillac limo- that neighbor was the Secretary of State of Illinois at the time and joked that I would never get a driver's license in the state of Illinois- which I never did (we moved to Iowa). Then he got elected governor of Illinois AND then was convicted of corruption. Hello George Ryan. My bike was totaled and I have a huge scar on my knee. Never mind his car was parked.

Anyway, I developed an irrational fear that I would run over a future president with all of CNN watching. I am glad they are gone, gone, gone. And they were, this morning on the first planes out of here.

Fine, it is very sad but that sums up my feeling this time around. When I studied American political history, recent (as in 1940-present) elections were thoroughly dissected and I lost my faith in the whole caucus/primary 2 party dominated system. Though the results last night were interesting, the news stations declared a winner and the politicians were giving victory speeches before all the precincts had reported.

Edited to add: As an additional observation: more Iowans want Rudy Giuliani (4,059), who came in 6th for the R's, for president over Barack Obama (940) who came in 1st for the D's. Maybe its just that more Republicans caucus?

Edited to add more: I'm an idiot. Apparently D's list delegates and R's actually count votes. Doh.

Nine Years Ago Today

Nine years ago today I married my best friend. Officially, with a minister and a crowd of people and all the trimmings that two twenty-year-old kids could afford. (Surprising most, our wedding cost less than $900, considerably less. Dress, cake, flowers and the like were made and borrowed by and from family. The reception hall was bartered for (would have been $400). I'm not sure where the money was spent exactly. I know we paid for staff to serve the punch and cake and clean up. My bouquet was real. I paid for the children attendant's clothing and my bridesmaid dresses.....ok, you get the idea.) It was a beautiful, stunning, made people cry wedding. In the middle of a blizzard. Most people that could come were those within walking distance of the gallery. Luckily, my out of town relatives were staying near by and the rest of our invite list were neighbors (neighborhood art gallery/theatre was our location). The minister and piano player were both neighbors too.

In retrospect, I think that the reason our wedding ceremony felt so intimate was that these people were not strangers or distant cousins or work acquaintances- they were instead the very people that we lived in community with, who would be supporting us through friendship and as mentors in our first (and many) years of marriage. The minister sensed this and used it in her sermon. (She also wrote it into our vows, and so we promised, never to hang wallpaper together. Never have.)

Marriage is hard work. We've had some good and bad times. This last house restoration tested us in ways that we could not foresee then. What got us through was luck, hard work, and each other. Those people who promised to support us back in 1999, really have- even though we moved from that community in 2000 across town.

I began this post intending to write about us as two teenagers in love, me with purple hair, an English major and Dear Husband, a punk rock skateboarding drummer- but really our marriage is more than an evolution of two people sharing lives. It is a tribute to those who support us as well.

How far we have come, how far we have to go. We are blessed to make the journey in good company. :)