Kindness

Kindness is really important to me. I believe that generosity is not just innate, it can be learned. I want to be the kind of person who gives back to others, the kind of person who appreciates what's done for her, who sends thank you notes, makes dinner for friends having a hard time. I'm so far from perfect, of course, but I do try.

I have a friend from college, someone I not only really like but really respect. As often happens, we fell out of touch, and I was thrilled to reconnect on Facebook with him. He was always really smart but lives an academic life (unlike me), rides bikes and does amazing woodworking as an avocation. I've commented on his photos of how much I love his work, so imagine my delight when I opened up the mail and found this pen from him. It's so gorgeous. I just things made from wood, I love simply and plain objects that let the beauty of the materials shine through. Woodwork is one of the many, many activities that I don't see myself having the time/space/energy to pursue, but would love to.

I'm having fun playing with the camera. This isn't quite the picture I wanted to take. It's too warm, too yellow, something. I had a lot of fun playing with the aperture setting to get the DOF I wanted. It's funny, like with so many things, as I've gotten older, I've gotten much more accepting of my need to learn how to do things. That sounds so arrogant, doesn't it? I think I've been lucky in many ways in life - many things have come fairly easily to me, so I didn't really learn how to work. As I have finally given up most of my perfectionism, I've found I'm much more willing to accept all that I don't know, and I'm much more willing to stick it out to learn what I need. I've come to understand that I can really enjoy things I'm not all that good at. All that to say, I'm going to take some more pictures and see what I can do differently.