the process of remembering: a photoblog by andrew huth

This is an outtake from a job I did.  Strange that such a silly photo made me contemplative.  Fleeting moments which occur in between what you were intending sometimes are more rewarding.

Life can often be like this.  I have been striving over the years (often failing) to live my life with more intention or purpose than I have in the past.  Much like a cluttered dinner table after a meal, it becomes far too easy to have our days cleared away, leaving us ironically empty and taking with it the memories of our shared moments with those around us.  It is a difficult enough task to hold onto the shared joys of conversations, encounters, and acts of service which give nourishment to those striving to live more purposefully that it can often be impossible to find satisfaction aimlessly wondering through life. A journey without much care for where one is headed often ends up being no more than a treadmill exercise from where, when we look in all directions, we see the same things we have always seen.  We have added mileage to our legs without the benefit of experiencing new and exciting places.

Yet, when I saw this frame of image here I was once again (as I often am) humbled.  A frame squeezed between two intentional frames ended up being the most honest and rewarding of the three.  The only credit I can take is having been ready for the moment.  It also made me reflective of things larger and more important than a simple picture.  I sometimes forget that there are worthwhile stops along my purposeful journey and I need only to go slow enough to see them.  More simply put, I need to ride a huffy not a hummer.

I believe firmly that our lives should be lived intentionally and with purpose, but also that we need to be ready for the smaller stops.  We can’t know to “stop and smell the roses” as the saying goes, if we are blowing by them with our windows up and our ACs on.