Pictures of three course dinners and people smiling in their Saturday night duds are common. It makes it easy to know when you have nailed it, if that is what you are going for.
My New Year's Eve would have made a lovely photo, had it occurred to any of us to take one. Five
couples who have been at each other's graduations and weddings, hugged each other's children and grandchildren, and grown gray together sipped champagne under a twelve foot Christmas tree. There were three rounds of fondue- cheese, marinara and chocolate- and twice as many rounds of "What was your favorite/most challenging/hopeful...?" If it sounds perfect, well it was.
Recently a friend sent me a
slew of pictures documenting the year long process of renovating his property. There were dump trucks delivering gravel, people on their knees painting, piles of burning scrap lumber, grungy floors on the way to being clean. It looked like a lot of work. But the person pointing the camera was not dissuaded by effort, and had the foresight to capture evidence of change.
People don't typically pause to click when
they are sweeping, or swabbing. It is common to take a photo of the cozy fire, but not the woodpile that feeds it. Folks more often wait until the debris is gone to pose and post.
Yet the messy efforts are inherent to the journey, and when we scurry over them to what feels like the goal, something is lost. The ten people who laughed together on the last hours of the year have clocked their share of scrubbing,
and schlepping, praying and crying. I know, because we did not hide the broken parts of our years from each other.
Their vulnerability is what renders them precious to me.
