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Baby Boy
Right now the side of his face rests against my belly, skin to skin, his warmth magnified by mine. It is a wonder, an absolute awe-filled thing, that just days ago he was on the other side of me, tucked away and unseeable, a secret. Elliot. Elliot with the head full of hair. Elliot with the fifty-eight eyelashes. Elliot with the rounded nose that dips into rounded cheeks that slope to the tiny chin that quivers when he cries, lifts when he smiles in his sleep. A landscape. Elliot. Tiny boy so like and unlike all the other boys who have been born before. So like and unlike whatever small person I imagined my own son to be. Perfection is a rare if not impossible thing, but how could he not be, right now, so young, so soft, exactly as he is here, breathing in and out, making the sounds that all mothers and fathers know as first-speak. Secrets. He is revealing them to me, unspooling them by the minute, by the number of his sighs, and they tangle around my legs and body until I am war
Sliding Doors: One Last Glance Toward Europe
We entered the Tube around 9:00 in the morning, a mass of noisy students and a few adults, taking up a section of platform. We had told the teens: "We'll start you on your journey, but you'll have to find your way back. Pay attention." The anxious ones stayed near us, the eager ones studied the green and red and blue and yellow lines on the wall map. "We'll need the Circle Line," one said, and after nodding, we passed the phrase among us like bread, or sweets, so when the train arrived, and the sliding doors opened, we all walked through them with enough nourishment and energy to know where we were going . Later, we stepped out of trams into the high Swiss landscape at Pfingstegg Station. After London, most of the kids didn't even look at the trail map. They just started up. One foot in front of the other, one sore-muscled groan after the other, a collection of revelations. We walked under rock ledges and over small streams. We talked abo
How completely wonderful! An amazing way to capture the seasons, as well as a testament to how closely you've been looking. A year condensed into 3 minutes and 13 seconds...somehow it reiterates, for me, the importance of this record keeping. Hope you keep your eyes and ears open throughout the year to come! (But how could I think you'd do anything but.)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Robin! I liked the whole 3 minutes and 13 seconds part, too. What I like more are the flashes of memories that each photo brings me; I really did get outside this year! Even in the cold! Here's hoping this kind of intentionality stays with me for a long time.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful review of the past year which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I hope that you stay with these efforts as the beauty, culture, and natural history of Minnesota is unique and irreplaceable. Thank you for your beautiful writing and interesting photographs that bring a hard to reach place close to home for many.
ReplyDeleteWonderfully evocative across the seasons to reach me over here. Although a recent fan of Landing on Cloudy Water I know I'll keep returning for the precise and inspiring prose and images that beautifully reveal a corner of the world. Many thanks... (and also to your husband for the gorgeous music that guided the photos through the year!).
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Julian
Bill and Julian -- Thank you, as always, for your kindnesses. Words are my first love, but I understand that images are sometimes even more powerful, thus this video. It's been fun to play around with both these past months. Thanks also for being such loyal readers!
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