Hope Returns

This is one of my all-time very favorite photographs. When I am sad or stressed or feel alone, I stare at it and remember who I am and that with the light comes hope. I remember old friends, appreciate new friends, think about my family, my most precious gift.

I just read a silly book for an English class...an old old tale set in Louisiana in the late 1800's entitled "The Awakening". It's about a woman who comes to feel trapped in her life. She states to a friend that she loves her children and would give all of her possessions and even her life for them but could not give herself, her "being" to them. In the end, she had to choose between staying with her family and losing "herself" or leaving them and destroying her family. She couldn't, in the end, leave her children and so she just swam out to sea...I guess she drowned. I felt so sad for her...she destroyed her family anyway...too bad she didn't realize that losing yourself for your family is what it's all about...it is the only way to find true happiness. Maybe I have a simplistic view on life or maybe just an awesome family. or both...

Anyway, enjoy this picture. It's called, "Hope Returns..."