Her

Not From These Parts / June 14, 2019

I glanced up from the end of my oar for a split second today and fell head over heels for her.

Some of the girls and I decided to do a little rafting trip before we left our new favorite town of Český Krumlov. Of course, I felt that it would be appropriate to bring my camera (sorry mom) given the stability and insane surface area of the seven person raft that we chose.

My intentions were mostly just to capture some sweet memories of my lovely friends, but I would say that this picture alone made the risk worth it. This isn’t the most technically sound image – the composition isn’t perfect and nothing outrageously entertaining is taking place. I’m not entirely sure what drew me so near to her. All I know is that when I saw the graceful way she was moving with the water, everything in me ached to take her place.

Out in the middle of the river she stood tall. Unafraid, unbothered – the moment simply consisted of her and the moss between her toes. This season of my life is particularly frightening, or so I’ve been told. Sometimes I get a tad overwhelmed by the big decisions that are looming and the small ones that are creating a ripple effect now; but I’ve always just managed to brush off the stress that I see plenty of others cracking under. In a way, I think that the intentionality in the stillness of this little girl is all that I wish to embody. There is so much beauty in just being.

So in the midst of the rushing waters and the crowd of kayaks around us, everything grew silent. The winds ceased and time slowed all for this moment. A 1/400th of a second was the part I got to play in it, and for that I could not be more thankful.