San Diego, CA: In June, I held a photo shoot. In a thistle field. With 22 women. In the hot summer southern sun. With a few different visions of what the photos should look like. It was definitely not the smoothest, most pleasant experience I have ever had. And when I downloaded my photos, I realized I had missed a few crucial ones that I needed to get for a complete set. So, a couple of weeks later, I went back to the same place, this time with fewer women and a bit less heat.
It wasn't until later when I realized that my efforts were not in vain because some of the pictures are simply
beautiful (if I do say so myself). Each precious woman, holding signs from "
Find Your Way Home," which teach the story of hope, and as
Becca Stevens so perfectly describes, "the truth that no one is ever so far away from home that they can't find their way home."
I've been posting them on
Thistle Farms' blog and each week, it's been like receiving a secret santa gift in my inbox (thanks to
Google Alerts). I almost forget who is holding the sign, what the sign says, what the principle means. I take a moment - just a brief, treasured moment - and think about the woman, think about the meaning and think about how lucky I was to capture it on film.
Today, Principle 17 appeared: "Remember You Have Been In The Ditch." Ah yes... I HAVE been there. The dark, heart-wrenching, uneasy, hopeless state of being when you really don't know for sure if things will ever get better. But then I remember what the ditch offered me (or rather forced me) -- time to figure out who I am and what my real values were (making huge mistakes along the way), people I would meet who really do love me for me (and all my imperfections) and place I could call home, with women who would soon become as close to me as sisters I never had.
But the most powerful part of Principle 17 - for me - is that I am the one holding the sign in the picture. I knew I needed to be in at least one photo (mainly for variety's sake), but it was fitting for me to hold this particular sign since I knew, along with the other ladies in the photo, that although we have been in the ditch, we are moving forward and moving upwards. That it WILL get better. And that there IS hope. But to never forget the ditch you were in that brought you to this next part of the journey.
Just another reminder to me of how sweet life can be and how truly blessed I am.
