A Snapshot of Our Lives

What would a snapshot of your day look like?  How about snapshots of your life?  There were many times when the kids were growing up that we took them to outdoor events celebrating a variety of holidays, animals, and seasons—a butterfly festival, May Day celebration, harvest festival, etc.  We have a few candid snapshots of some of those events—when cameras were extra things to carry around with all the paraphernalia needed for three kids of various ages.

Last weekend we attended the Wildlife Festival at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.  It was a chilly, raw day—as we walked from the car, most of us wished we had more and warmer clothes.  Babies were wrapped in snowsuits and cute fleece hats.  An outdoor fire and an indoor gift shop were popular places to warm up.  Tents and tables with snakes, birds, furs, and photographs engaged the kids and adults alike.  We had two of our adult kids with us, plus one, reminiscent of the events in years past.  Following are snapshots of our day with captions from some of the five of us:

1.  Morning surprise   2.  A Walking Stick before our walk in the sticks   3.  Stickin’ around

1.  Eagle eye   2.  Injured glory   3.  Head and shoulders above the rest

1.  Feathered friend   2.  Small but mighty   3.  Bundled up

1.  Who?!   2.  Feeling owley   3.  Here’s lookin’ at you, kid

1.  Busy beavers   2.  Construction zone   3.  I could sure use a toothpick

1.  Not mush room   2.  Unstoppable   3.  Mushrooms are having a moment

1.  Hipsters in red   2.  Roses for next year   3.  Hips don’t lie

1.  Feel the burn   2.  Tree-mains   3.  Vertical coal

1.  All the sad prairie   2.  Cactus of Minnesota   3.  Prairie sentries

1.  Mess ‘o Milkweed   2.  Fluff in the wind   3.  It’s time to sail

1.  Hanging on   2.  Feathered and tethered   3.  Clinging

1.  Missouri memories   2.  The circle of life   3.  Bittersweet goodbye

A snapshot is a quick record of something or someone; a brief appraisal or summary.  My photos and our captions are snapshots of our day together.  They can stir memories of past times and connect us with a quiet part of ourselves that we may not be aware of.  How do we walk through life?  What do we see or not want to see?  How do we carry ourselves?  Who are we really?  What is the work of our lives?  What’s stopping us?  How do we want our future to look?  How do we look at things from a different point of view?  Who do we surround ourselves with?  How do we realize our mission?  What do we do when we get stuck?  How do we gather the sweet fruit from our memories?  We are all entwined in this circle of life—each of us only a snapshot in the huge panorama of our Earth and its history.  But each snapshot is important, and this time is our time.  The mushrooms and all of us are having a moment.