NYC Skyline on my mind

A long time ago we took our kids to Maryland to see family and decided to make a side trip to visit a longtime friend and college roommate of mine in NJ. While there we decided to go see the Statue of Liberty. We came from the NJ side and took the ferry. It was magnificent. I remember seeing the New York City skyline for the very first time in my life. I took lots of photos of the skyline as seen from NJ and of Lady Liberty. I remember looking through my camera lens at the amazing giant city that seemed eerily quiet and still as seen from afar. I knew that it was a bustling, busy, noisy city with lots of people, but from behind my lens miles away it was peaceful and magical. I still can see skyline in my mind, the photograph I took. It was one of those *moments*.

My husband's grandmother was known to say that in life we need to take mental pictures of moments and freeze special times in our lives. This was one of those personal moments, seeing NYC for the first time. What's ironic about it is what happened when we got back to Baltimore. We had a family renunion of sorts and it was the first time all my brothers and sisters had been together in years (and unfortunatety the last time we were all together). I gave the camera to my husband and told him there were only a few shots left (this was still the pre-digital film era) so make them count. He shot a few and kept advancing the film. It kept going. It was then, after the camera said we had taken 38 pictures on what we thought was 36 shot film, that we realized there was no film in the camera.

Luckily we were able to catch that rare moment of having all five siblings together on film when we actually put film in the camera. (I thought YOU put film in the camera! No, I thought YOU did!) Anyway, the moments I had of NYC behind the lens of my camera actually turned into frozen moments captured in my head. I'm glad I can still see it.

The point is, and I do have a point, like Dave Barry likes to say, is that there are times when we don't have a camera with us and we want to capture the moment. Stop, and think clearly about what you are seeing. Really think about it. And I promise you will be able to pull up that "picture" maybe even 20 years later like I can.