Crystal's Confession

This word search may give me away before you get to the end of the post, but just for fun ... can you guess what I'm confessing based on the first words that jump out at you?

if you haven't figured it out yet, keep reading:

I love having my picture taken (ever since my children were born). I want them to have lots of memories of what we all looked like as a family. I cherish the photographs of my father, and I have plenty of them but still with I had more. That's likely where my passion for pictures comes from. There is another passion that I just recently discovered though, and that's the one I want to confess to you now.

I'm passionate about life. I've been snapping photographs every morning of the sky, the trees, the snow, the sun, and the world around me. I can honestly say that up until 2012 I hadn't noticed these things. I was fired from my job in January 2012 and I thought my life was going to end. In fact, there were a few days that I thought about ending my life because I couldn't imagine what was worth living for without a career. It's taken me over a year to really come to terms with that. I am truly happy with where my life has taken me, and now I have the time to enjoy what God has blessed me with. I've grown to know my children, my husband, and my friends. I have time to have meaningful conversations instead of watching the clock and worrying about deadlines. Most of all, I have time to experience all that life has to offer.

Each morning there is an amazing sky before me and it is different than any morning before or any morning to come. Each day has a unique smell to it, and the breeze carries it to my nose and I can feel the wind in my hair. I am a moment junkie. I think about all the sunrises I took for granted, all the stars I didn't stop to count, and I feel guilty. I think about the parents who were taken too soon, and what they would have given for just one more sunrise, one more breath of fresh air, or one more sunset to enjoy. I am drawn to photograph these things. Not because I want to be a professional photographer, but because I am a junkie in search of my next 'high' - my next moment! I want to capture the moment so I can look at it again and again, so I can share it with my friends, so I can frame it on the wall and be reminded of how happy I was the moment I snapped that picture. The only thing that might be better would be bottling up the smells that go along with the moment ... but I haven't figured out how to do that.

Here's what I'm confessing to you, it's partially that I'm a moment junkie, but also that I am saving up to buy an expensive camera. I am dizzy with excitement at the thought of taking better pictures and more pictures. I'm ecstatic at the thought of taking one every day and covering my bedroom wall with them. I'm giddy about the happiness that I've been blessed with every day and I hope you can feel some of that when you look at my pictures. I hope they make you 1/2 as happy as they make me.

May your paths be abundantly filled with lemons, sugar, sunshine, and moments that make you dizzyingly excited!

~Crystal