Innocence.

“Remember when the days were long

And rolled beneath a deep blue sky

Didn't have a care in the world

With mommy and daddy standing by.”

As I approach my 54^th birthday, I will look back and ask myself, “How am I doing?” I have a confession, I do talk to myself; I feel that I know myself best and if I argue with the response from my inner self, no one is going to hear me.

In some respects I have done well. I have a beautiful family, am thankfully healthy, and best of all, I have friends who I can count on. Not as many as I had when I was growing up, but friends who I can talk to about what I need to talk about---or on the reverse side, can talk with me when they have something they need to discuss.

But there are things where I have failed big time. I feel l don’t devote enough time to the family as Susan and I are pulled in so many different directions. I didn’t feel this when I was growing up---maybe it was there, but if it was, I don’t remember. I guess that’s a good thing. I really hope my kids, when they look back, will say, “He was a good Dad.” Hopefully they can over look when I was self-centered and  unfocused---they know it when I am, I will say, “What did you say?” because I was off in a “different thought.”

Life is challenging, but considering the options, it’s pretty darn good.

The other day, after a photo shoot, our youngest, along with 2 kids whose parents we were photographing, went rolling down a big hill. Just like when I was growing up---they rolled, got grass stains, and itched from the grass implanting itself into their arms. It brought back wonderful memories. I loved those times…all we needed was to lie on our backs and look at the clouds to see who we saw in them. However there was a problem, there were no clouds in the sky.

The photo above was taken after the photo shoot. For two children, who are being blended together, you would have no idea they were not the best of friends. When I took this photo I didn’t even have to ask them to do anything more than look at the camera which loved taking their picture.

Thanks for stopping by.