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rickcameron
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A Lucky Break
A Lucky Break

I'll be posting more frequently the next few months and I feel I ought to explain why.

Last year after we adopted Bear I was caught off guard by how intensely homesick I suddenly felt for Portland (this is Ellie and I playing in the snow in our backyard a decade ago). It's not that I hadn't missed Oregon before — you can't love a place as much as I loved the Northwest and not miss it when you leave — rather I missed it in the same way I'd miss the desert if I could snap my fingers and give us our old lives back. But I've never had a problem mourning the beautiful things I've lost as long as it doesn't keep me from loving the beautiful things I have and have gained. And if you've followed me long you know how much I love the Sonoran Desert.

Something else was going on.

A big part of it was I had been having trouble sleeping, leaving me physically and mentally exhausted. Bear was more of a challenge to integrate into our lives than Ellie had been. Sam died around the same time, not that any of their death's have been easy but I always knew his would be hard. There was pandemic fatigue, the school shooting in Uvalde, the stress of a car commute after so many years taking the train, an especially challenging project. To top it off I got sick twice and had to miss a week of work each time, burning off a huge chunk of my time off, time I usually spend letting my mind spin down. And even though I try to live in the moment and am keenly aware of how good my life is and how many people are genuinely suffering each day of their lives, I still reached a point where I couldn't keep going and needed to find a way to retire.

Thankfully my boss offered an option to take a leave of absence instead and I took him up on it. Tomorrow I start my four month break and I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to step away and recharge. I may not get to play with Bear in the snow as I did Ellie, but he is about to start going on a lot more desert hikes. Looking forward to doing more photography and editing old pictures, my backlog goes back many years (including this one!).

Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works Some rights reserved
Taken on: February 7, 2014
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Ellie Ellie Everybody's photos tagged with dog dog Everybody's photos tagged with black lab black lab more » Everybody's photos tagged with playing playing Everybody's photos tagged with dog toy dog toy Everybody's photos tagged with backyard backyard Everybody's photos tagged with snow snow Everybody's photos tagged with Irvington Irvington Everybody's photos tagged with Portland Portland Everybody's photos tagged with Oregon Oregon « less
Sets appears in:   • Ellie 2003(?) - 2019   
Camera: Canon EOS M, f/3.5, 1/1000 sec, 18mm, ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon EOS M
Lens: EF-M18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
Aperture: f/3.5
Exposure Time: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length: 18mm
ISO: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: DxO PhotoLab 6.10.1
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A Lucky Break

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