Monday, July 12, 2021

Of anniversaries, beaches, and memories

Where the waves never stop
Grand Bend, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Debbie and I have a strange little family tradition to mark our (July 5th) wedding anniversary: we go to the beach.

There's no rhyme or reason to it. The beach has always been a resonant place for us, what my wife likes to call her happy place, where we can sit with our feet in the sand and feel the winds blow in off the water.

This year's beach destination was Grand Bend, and our daughter joined us for the ride. Cameras were, of course, slung over shoulders, and Dahlia and I spent some quality time beside the water trying to make some memories in pixels as the sun slowly settled into the water.

For the record, she's a freakishly gifted photographer, and her pixels are way better than mine. Which delights me to no end.

As I watched her pick her compositions and work through the process, I thought about why we were here, how the day we got married we were still years away from becoming parents.

It struck me as neat that all these years later, we celebrated a day that happened years before our kids came along. Yet given how history works, it was another step toward our family (eventually) becoming whole.

The connection to that singular day was hard to ignore as the wind-whipped waves crashed over our ankles.

Eventually we finished shooting and tucked the cameras away, images of waves now lost to the depths of Lake Huron tucked safely on their memory cards.

If only life itself could be so neatly captured, stored, and remembered.

If only pixels were just a little more tangible.

If only we had more nights like this, with the people who appreciate it most, to make memories as vivid as the ones we now hold not only in our photo albums, but in our hearts and minds.

#grand #bend #grandbend #ontario #canada #beach #great #lake #huron #sun #sunset #summer #nature #waves #water #landscape #photography #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

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