Today after church, I excitedly headed out to take cityscape pictures of Richmond for my friend, Rudy. The sky looked nice, some clouds but not bad. I have been trying to take these for almost 2 weeks now. Between my schedule and the weather, this is the first time it has worked out..well, almost worked out. The weather had different plans for me all together. By the time Mia and I got to Hollywood Cemetery, it was overcast and hazy. My first instinct was to complain. I sent a text to a friend basically saying bah to the the whole thing. He writes back " Maybe you can scout today." A light bulb went off in my feeble brain. This is a brilliant thought. All of a sudden, my whole perspective changed. The day was not wasted. This gave me the chance to go to several different places and take sample shots for Rudy. Now he can pick what he likes, and I will go back to those locations only when the weather is nice.
The best part was that now I saw this as an opportunity to take Mia to all kinds of places she had never been. Well, it took a few more minutes before this revelation came to me, but hey, it is better than it never happening. She loved Hollywood Cemetery, although she had a hard time understanding why all of the dead people were in the ground and not in heaven. She also was confused as to why we could not see the dead people. It really made me think about how morbid and frightening the idea of a cemetery is to, well, anyone. Lots of dead bodies in the ground...YUCK! No wonder the zombie movies are so popular. She ran all over those bodies with zero reverence. I could not seem to explain to her that it was not very nice. She also knocked down a gate. Honestly, I just left it. I figured I would do more damage trying to pick it back up. It seemed to make more sense to quickly leave while no one was looking.
We also went to where Q-94 used to be located. There was orange stuff with a big Danger Keep Out sign on it very close to where we were standing. I explained this to Mia. As soon as I put the camera to my eye, she promptly went around it and from the other side yelled " Look mommy, I got over here." Clearly keep out and danger mean nothing to Mia.
The last place we went was Jefferson Park in Church Hill. It has a playground. This was Mia's favorite place of the day. Mine too. It has a really nice view of the city. I am hoping Rudy will like these best. It will be easy to go back there and fun for Mia.
Anyway, what could have been a completely miserable experience because I was annoyed by the weather turned into a pretty fun time. All thanks to a few words from a friend. It is amazing what a change in perspective can do for us.
2 comments:
What is very interesting about your outing is Mia's "perspective" on things. She still is so much of a blank slate and has had little experience to draw from (e.g. the cemetery, hazard signs). Her response was very different than that of our often fear-filled adult minds. Wow.. what a huge challenge and honor for us as parents to leave those first lasting impressions about the stuff of life.
Please blog again. Once you've started, you can't just stop without announcing that you will.
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