Show, Not Tell

Tues Oct 9

Lovely opportunity not to blog. Pax needed a snuggle, and I lay down with him and fell asleep for the night.

Wed Oct 10

The challenge from www.lisajobaker.com today:

Write with all five senses.

Give us the flavor of the day, the moment, the memory. The more details you weave into your story the easier it is for us to relate. Because now we’re right there with you. On that hard packed sandy beach with a breeze that feels more like an old friend than a reason to tie hair up in a ponytail.

Slow down and remember. Then write – like you’re serving a five course meal. So that we can savor every delicious word of your story.

   
I remember. Because it happened at a photo shoot, so it is well documented, by David, for us. What you can see in our faces, is how much fun we had. None of it was made up. 

We were moving as fast as Dave talks, as fast as he thinks, and he caught it all. He was as generous with his energy, and his praise, and his rapid fire lens as he and Andrea were with their home, and their time and their food and their lives. 

  
You can't see Andrea often. She is only in one or two pictures. You can't see that even though she is quiet, if you talk with her she is just as likely to tear up with emotion as she is to bless you with her cracked-open grin. You can't see that she brought the cookies, and crackers and blankets, that she rigged Nori's dress with the clip from a bag, that she is the reason Dave can operate like he does. 

And Nate, Nate who chased the waves with Sophia until they were tired out, chasing the sun, letting the waves chase them down. And all the while, their Philadelphia bones, our Canadian bones, sang to us... "You are on the beach at sunset, when everyone at home is wearing sweaters..."

We were on the hard-packed sand, the waves crashing into the pier. The salt air around us, gulls crying. 

We were there at sunset for the shadows, for the light, on purpose, but it put into us a feeling of catching magic, catching moments and we were sucking the marrow out of it. Perhaps that is why only amazing Mexican food afterward would suffice. 

You can see in our faces how well we were being loved. 

You can see in us how much we love each other. 

You can see how we were healing there, re-writing our story there, becoming more, becoming closer, how we were loved and celebrated and supported, by strangers who became our friends, like family. 

You can see why it was so hard to leave, and why it fueled us for this journey, why now, as fall turns towards towards winter in Canada again, these are the pictures that sing to us from the walls in the tiny house in the dark.

All photos, includig the IMAGE AT THE TOP OF THIS BLOG AND MY PROFILE PICTURE,  by the incredible David Difuntorum, San Diego California. 

But he sometimes goes to Philly, or really, he'll do almost anything to take photos that will strengthen your marriage and family to thrive, survive and come alive.  
www.daviddifuntorum.com www.awesomedave.com