The last few weeks the skies have been getting darker earlier every day. As I drive back from yoga I have the perfect view of the moon each night as it wax and wanes through its cycle. Tonight it was full and radiant, guiding me along the dark, dirt roads towards home. I stopped at the top of the hill, hoping to capture its brilliance on my camera. An impossible task, at least on my simple camera phone. So I stared at it for a while, trying to etch it into my memories.
Sometimes I wish cameras didn’t exist in their instant form. Perhaps we’d spend more time looking, I mean REALLY looking at the things and/or people we never want to forget. Instead we click and move on. I started to think of all the beautiful things I’ve seen this summer and how many I’ve forgotten. How many views (Carter Dome for one…it was FREEZING) I took quick pictures of so I could “enjoy later”, instead of reveling in the beauty then and there. How many occasions do we pose for pictures more than we engage in conversation?
When I was in high school, my boyfriend was in the Army. We wrote letters back and forth all the time. When I received one in his perfect writing, I relished every word because I knew it would be days and days before I received another. I re-read it two, three times. Now, with email and Facebook bombarding us every moment, I find myself skimming over correspondence so quickly I barely remember what I’ve just read. Dash off a reply, receive another almost instantly.
In a time when everything can be captured instantly for ‘later viewing’, I wonder if we don’t do the same with our relationships. A photograph, a quick email, a text… is that truly a relationship? No hug, no sound of their voice, no comfortable silence… even phone calls have become obsolete.
So my suggestion is this: Stop and drink in the beauty around you, etching it deep inside to recall another day. Don’t count on one-dimensional photographs or videos to bring to life the beautiful things or people you’ve encountered. Close your eyes and do it yourself. When you have lunch with a friend you love, drink in every word, every laugh, every moment as if you won’t see them again for months, for years, for decades. Don’t wait to miss them. Bring them into your heart and soul every moment you can.
And savor the moon as if you’ll never see one like it again.
Trekking The Soul 