wide open

isn't it amazing how easy it is for average people like you and i to shoot and edit all types of media these days? i can take photos with my phone that are better quality than any i could take with any camera i have ever owned in my entire life. for someone like me... that loves music, film and photography... it's as if my world has expanded 10 fold. i had coffee with someone on friday... i was talking a little about how i am sort of the black sheep of my family. in that, i am really the only artsy fartsy one... everyone else has real jobs. they don't feel compelled to shoot thousands of photographs or travel the world. anyway... my friend told me something that made me very happy.... he said... when you're born, the world is as big as it will ever be. you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone. there are no limits to the exploration and learning ahead of you. as you age.... you slowly close doors and windows. you marry... you settle down... then you become grounded... you start to say things like... i would never do xyz... i have no interest in abc.... he said you keep living in this fashion until eventually your sphere of learning is just your close friends and family... and then just within your home or your apartment... and then it closes in completely around like a box.... they call it a coffin and then you are buried in it. he said that people like me exist in the world... the push down the walls for everyone else around me... to help them see that the universe is still as big as the day they were born... that there is no reason to stop growing.... it almost made me cry. so, i thought i would share. 

this weekend i went cross country skiing with a close friend of mine. i haven't been since grade school. it was a beautiful sunny day in minnesota... low 30s... not much wind.... we chatted about life and learning. about growth. about enjoying things like an afternoon of skiing with a good friend. while on the trail we met a man from argentina who was visiting just for the weekend. he was new to skiing and was moving slowly. we waited for him, helping him along. there was something really vulnerable about him... a man easily 6'3" wobbling along on skis and falling sheepishly several times. he told us about his job... he also does web design and travels the world. he named a dozen countries he's been in recently. here's another reminder to keep the world wide open. it's funny to me... that once something comes to the front of my mind... it seems i am reminded of it repeatedly.... by the universe... in every way possible. here are some skiing photos :)