Balance

Balance is something my life is lacking at the moment. It's all school and all work and no play. It's getting up at 5 o'clock every morning to read, write, edit, take quizzes, complete labs. It's the mindless 9-5 at a job I don't like. It's a quick dinner and a quick conversation with my husband. It's homework until 9 every night. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I got a new camera yesterday. A friend of my husband's gave it to him to give to me. It's a near-pristine Polaroid 250. I've been looking online for one for years, always tempted to buy, never willing to give the asking price. And out of the blue, one falls in my lap. It's the nicest camera I've ever been given. I tinkered with it for about 20 minutes last night and added a 4.5-volt battery to my shopping list. It made me ache for film, for an afternoon of free time, and a few camera-wielding friends to wander with.

I love what I'm doing in school and I love where it's going to get me someday, but I'm ready for a break. I'm ready to sleep in and not have to worry about deadlines and polylines and points on a map. I'm ready stop thinking about environmental impacts of sustainable tourism. I'm ready for the end of this trying semester of Fall 2012. Just one more week.

...and in other news, Words to Shoot By was mentioned on Ozarks at Large today, the November 30 edition! Thanks for the mention, Laney! I'm so proud.

Stare at the Sawtooths

There is nothing I'd like more right now than to be back in this moment, back in August on Little Redfish Lake. It was the second morning of our trip and I got up just before sunrise and climbed into my kayak and paddled out to the center of the lake. I turned around to the east and closed my eyes. As the sun rose, the warm end-of-summer light inched up my face. A few minutes after the sun cleared the trees at the edge of the lake, I turned around to the west to stare at the Sawtooths. And that was the general theme for the week: Stare at the Sawtooths. It was impossible not to.