Sheila and Sarah - Day 21 - Changing of the Season

Sheila Day 21

Giizis Noongshkad ni Boon . . . the sun stops in winter or winter solstice.  This is a time when the North Door is open and the Ojibwe must welcome it.  It is a time for ceremony, feast, and a time of story telling where elders speak of old times.  This day is the darkest day of the year, but it also marks the change of seasons where fall transitions into winter. Today we celebrated the winter solstice on campus.  Most ceremonies begin with an opening prayer offered by a spiritual leader in the tribe.  Hawk is an amazing young man with a kind and generous spirit.  Each and every time he comes to campus, he touches our lives in a different way.  He and his dad do wild rice finishing and he is my supplier for the most amazing rice that I give away throughout the holiday season.  He shared his spiritual gifts as we honored the fall and welcomed the winter . . .  

Often the opening blessing is followed by a song done by a drum group.  WETCC built its own drum last year and the story of its existence is quite beautiful.  The drum represents the heartbeat of the college, and in many ways it gives life to everything that we do.  I hesitate to write a ton about the ceremonial pieces as there is still so much that I do not know, but I do know that ceremonies mark life's transitions.

Life's transitions . . . I think that transitions are somewhat unnerving and have the potential to cause anxiety and stress.  Often it seems that at each and every point we manage to make our way through, there is another point where we have to stop and face yet another transition.  At those points, it is like we have to die a little bit.  Weirdly enough, like the fall foliage that dies as the ground freezes and is covered by a blanket of snow, pieces of us also die.  This dying a little happens at so many different times in our lives, some we remember, and some we do not.

For those of us that are mamas, we can typically remember the very moment that our little one first emerged into the world for the first time.  However, it is highly unlikely that any of us can remember the moment when we were born, but I can only imagine that this indeed had to be very traumatic as a little one emerges.  Imagine that one moment we are safe and comfortable, and then BAM the earthquake happens.  There are some shattering moments and then BOOM!  There are lights and people yelling and talking . . . and it is very, very cold.  It is quite a transition if you think about it.  And then you go through infancy and toddler hood and then there comes a point in life when we realize that the world does not orbit around us—that there are “others.”  And you have to start to sharing with those “others.” That is a very hard transition for kiddos to adjust to.  

As we move on in the cycle of life there are many, many other transitions.  I am sure that many of us have a memory about our first day of school.  And for some of us, it was a very traumatic transition point in our lives.  And on we go, to middle school and then to high school where there are a number of transitional points.  We make decisions to go to college or to get a job and there are more points where there are transitions.  As we move further into adulthood we might move from being single to being married, we might move from being married into singleness or widowhood, there are job transitions, from working to retirement, health transitions, family transitions, children being born, children moving away, children getting married, and children and parents growing older.  And then the final transition where God will carry us from the womb of this world into the kingdom of heaven.  These all can be very unnerving.  

All of these transitions are a part of our whole life’s story, and sometimes there are points of being secure and others we feel very unsure and secure, but they are a part of life.  I would imagine that many of us are going through significant transition right now, either emotionally or relationally. Transition points create anxiety because many of us do not like change.  We would rather have our misery in the present than move into an uncertain future.  We have questions of whether I can do this?  What will happen next?  What will I do?  Who will I be?  Who am I? So it is natural that we resist transitions.  However, if we resist them long enough, we remain forever anchored to that spot.  This is a spot that we should not be stuck on.  Transition is hard and often painful.

Rah and I are going through a transition with this blog.  We keep trying and for some reason we just cannot seem to get it right.  We simply do not know what to write that will draw readers into the stories somehow giving us the light we need to keep going.  We are beginning to think about transitioning.  I feel as though the darkness of winter solstice is overcoming me and I just cannot manage to find the light.  I am wondering if it is time to close this chapter of our lives, where mama and baby opt to transition, recognizing that in the process we will both die a little, and wait for the life of spring to give us new direction.  This may be the last Christmas blog that we write.  We both recognize that transition is hard and painful, but often in the dying, there is rebirth and growth . . . maybe God has another path for us . . . sigh . . . 

Find the light and grow,

Sheila

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Sarah Day 20

Today while I was searching on the internet a bit, I came across an article about a gal and her husband who wrote a book called, The Sarcastic Lens. The book is about their journey to all 7 continents with a goal of photographing the wildlife of the world through their "sarcastic lens." After reading the article about the book, I decided to do a little more research in hopes of finding some more images. I was able to do just that thanks to www.today.com. The images are absolutely captivating and the captions are clever. I cannot wait to purchase this book!

The authors of The Sarcastic Lens are just two ordinary people who love wildlife and love to travel. After they traveled to all 50 states, they decided to embark on their journey to capture photos from all around the world. When the couple talks about their images, they say that no tripods were needed, no camping was done, and they did not need to risk their life. They said that with the right amount of patience, desire, and humor, their photos could have been taken by anyone. The journey is inspiring. Today I learned that this is something I would really like to do. 

I began watching my aunt (who is a professional photographer) take photos several years ago. She has so much passion in capturing memories that families will treasure forever and eventually her passion rubbed off on me and I decided that photography was something I could also see myself doing. I planned on going to college to double major in photojournalism and photography, but after my first year of art classes, I chose to switch my photography major to a minor. I learned very quickly that although I really love photography, it's more of a hobby for me rather than a career. The passion that my aunt has for photographing babies, seniors, athletics, and families, is the same passion that I have for photographing animals and wildlife. My love for animals, photography, and traveling make the idea behind The Sarcastic Lens, the perfect addition to my bucket list.

One of my favorite pictures that I found is of a red-eyed tree frog. The frog is beautiful. Their primary color is a soft minty green, with orange toes, big red eyes, and accents of blue and yellow. Their colors are so unique that they look as if they were delicately painted. I was thrilled to read in the caption that this photo was taken in Costa Rica, because that's where Jesse and I are going on our honeymoon. One of the main reasons we chose Costa Rica is because of the amazing wildlife and photo opportunities. Jesse wasn't all that picky with where we went as long as it was somewhere tropical. He has never traveled outside of the US. I have never seen the rain forest or really amazing wildlife, so we decided that Costa Rica seemed to be the perfect fit. The idea of witnessing wild white-faced monkeys, scarlet macaws, and red-eyed tree frogs in all their glory makes me giddy inside! 

I read this quote once. "Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling. If you can't feel what you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they're looking at your pictures." I have always related to that quote and I think every other photographer could also relate to it. No one wants to take a picture that just seems empty. For me, it's animals and wildlife. I love animals an extraordinary amount, so photographing them just seems to satisfy my soul. My aunt chooses to photograph people because that's how people make her feel. They make her feel a sort of love and emotion that she is always able to portray through her images. When I look at her pictures of babies, I just melt. And I know when she was in that moment capturing that memory, that she was melting just the same. Because photography isn't looking, it's feeling. And when Auntie Dawn feels it, we all feel it. I can only hope to one day be as talented as she is. 

Sarah