Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Slow Returning

I didn't realize how much time it would take me to settle back into the daily routines of home after my trip to South Africa.  I thought I'd arrive back on Wednesday and be back into doing again on Thursday.  Perhaps I packed so much into the three weeks I was in South Africa that it has taken me six weeks to feel that I am home again.

And how do I choose which images to share from the hundreds of photographs I made?  What is it I want to remember?

The weekend at the Buddhist Retreat Center teaching photography as meditation?


Or the days with the special people of Woza Moya Project?





Or the walks on the beach?

Or the weekend in the Game Reserve with dear friends?


Or the weekend of training the first South African SoulCollage® Facilitators? Or my 30th wedding anniversary which my husband and I celebrated by having lunch at the hotel in Umhlanga Rocks where we had our wedding reception? Or tea with special friends we hadn't seen in years? There are so many magical experiences that I don't want to forget.  And photographs can't always show what you saw because what we see is so influenced by our emotions and our memories.  Sometimes you just have to breathe in the experience and hope that your body remembers the feelings.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged 
to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
Nelson Mandela