Happy Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday to the Paisley Blog.

It is so hard to believe that three years have passed already. It seems like just yesterday I was starting this blog, with the intention of it becoming my photography blog, my first picture/post - the original Paisley's caught in a mid-air jump for a shot for a self-portraiture class. I already had my writing blog, Becoming a Finisher, I just wanted someplace to post random pictures on a weekly basis. Who knows, if I had had an iPhone then and known about Instagram, this blog may never have come into existence. But I didn't have an iPhone or know about Instagram, so this blog seemed to be the logical choice for random photos.

What I didn't expect was for it to become my heart, my passion. A place that fueled my creativity, pushed me to continue to develop my photography skills, a place to share my thoughts and observations about life.

While I have been away this month enjoying life with my family, I have been thinking about where I want to go with this space moving forward. I thought about the posts that have meant the most to me; the backroads adventures, the posts from our vacations, The Coffee Shop Chronicles, The Northern Michigan Asylum, The Felt Mansion. All of them focused around exploring, traveling, observing and photographing.

I came across this great analogy from C.S. Lewis in my morning devotional the other day, granted Mr. Lewis is talking about faith, but the analogy got me thinking about this blog. This is what Mr. Lewis said "It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in...It is true that some people may find they have to wait in the hall for a considerable time, while others feel certain almost at once which door they must knock at. I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do get into your room you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping."

For the past three years, I have wandered the hall, trying various doors, entering different rooms. Some rooms have been cozy and warm, they feel like home. Some rooms have been cold and sterile, like a hospital room. Some rooms have been pretty and shiny at first glance, but the more I explored them, the more their flaws were exposed, layers of dust in the corners, knobs missing on the doors, the bed as hard as a rock.

I think I have opened all the doors off this hall now, and the rooms where I want to live are the rooms of photography, travel/exploring, and immersion writing. Each a separate room, but they have pass-throughs from one to another. I know this is where my heart and passion lies, these rooms will be my home moving forward into this fourth year.