Curves

I'm looking through some older images and this one catches my eye. The problem is, I cannot remember what it's a photo of. I like the curves and the shades of gray and I like that in nature there's rarely a straight line. The city is all exact angles and straight lines and in some ways we take that as a guide to live life. Elementary, middle, high school, college, job, marriage, kids, retirement -- and praise be to the ones who can do it without wavering or distractions. The truth though is that I've never learned much about myself following the plan. It's only when I've found myself on one of life's back roads that I've taken the measure of myself. The only people I've met who are completely content are those who have stepped off the straight and narrow and followed one of those "roads not taken." They've given up worrying about what friends and family think -- well, not given up exactly, but quit letting what other's think be their guiding principle. I find myself advising my own young, adult children to find something that makes them happy instead of find a career that I'd be proud to tell my friends about and there-by gain some measure of reflected glory. I mean, ultimately I have to live with myself and the only accounting that's worth while is whether I lived with or without regrets.