It all happened so quickly that my cheeks blushed and I retracted away in a childish nature. I wore a soft smile as I tucked my chin under the lip of my jacket and peered out with playful eyes.
Then it became so aggressive that I was almost offended by the public display of affection and searched for an escape.
Snow- oh, the problems you cause... but how can we blame you when you bring such beauty?
While my words write like a metaphor, I feel very literal when I say that I was kissed by the heavens. Each tiny flake a pang upon my unconditioned skin: a reminder of my worthiness, a humble awakening.
What a day today was!
- a confident lady without her eyesight had me in tears as I observed all the shuttle commuters taking their vision for granted.
- an unlikely lunchtime conversation encouraged me to continue getting outside my comfort zone
- and my yoga teacher spoke to me in poetry for almost 2 hours
It all ended with the earth hugging me in shavasana corpse pose...and again, a very literal embrace.
As I meditated on the seven chakras, I smiled at how yoga came into my life.
I walked back out into the snow storm. My hands told me NOOO, my smartphone tried to bury itself at the bottom of my bag, but I just couldn't resist.
I wanted to capture the beauty of the New York City streets during my first snow in quite some time.
As I snapped a photo of a barren tree now blanketed in white, my mind flashed back to a photo I had seen on Facebook.
The photo was of a tree ample with red, orange and yellow leaves. It was Saul's photo. I recalled how last month he described to me his love and passion for photographing Fall.
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| Bring Me to New York for Christmas |
Fall does not exist in El Salvador. Saul lived 20 years of his life with just 2 seasons: wet & dry. No colors, no snow, and really not much flowers!
Not only that, but Saul never used a camera until last year.
In August 2011, Saul moved from a tiny farm in El Salvador (my Peace Corps community) to a larger farm in Wisconsin where he is now finishing his second year at a Technical College. He has been embraced by an amazing host Mom, who happened to have a pretty cool photography camera.
Saul began observing...practicing...
Soon, he realized that this was one of his passions.
He called me and described with excitement how he knows how to work the camera. How he sees the colors in the trees and contours of the landscape.
He said "Jaime, I am going to make my class their first yearbook!"
Saul's Mom helped him register for an extra Photography class, on top of his 18 credits and vowed to maintain his 3.8 GPA. Okay, he has not only maintained his high grades, but today he called me that he had the best day: he got 100% on his Oral Communications exam and had 6 photos selected to be in the school Art Show. I could hear his smile through the phone :)
I asked him what he would like to do with his photography. He had very 2 different answers.
1. He would like to go back to his community in El Salvador and take photos of his family. Not just his family, other families...his friends...children. You see, Saul told me that the first photo he has of himself is when he is 16. He does not know what he looked like as a baby. He does not have a framed photo of himself shortly after his birth nor playing in the leaves at 4.
2. He would like to get on field level with the Green Bay Packers and get some photos for the newspaper.
Now, if this story isn't the best already, you have to hear it from his own mouth. You have to see his eyes when he describes it all. It gives you the chills-- you know why? (well at least my interpretation)-- He has 0 doubt that these things will occur. He has 0 guilt that he has been given an opportunity that maybe no one else in his community has been given. He has 0 pride that he is one of the top students in his class. He is just being Saul. And he is being the best Saul that he can be.
What more can you ask?
I cannot wait to see the photos he takes of New York City. I cannot wait to see him capture the beauty of my country, as I so passionately tried to do of his country.
I cannot wait to see him bring those photos back to El Salvador in June 2013.
And I cannot wait to see the photos he continues to snap in his home town community...and where ever else the world may take him.
Because Saul has truly realized that the world is your oyster. And his inspirational ways are contagious.
SO. In conclusion:
Let the heavens kiss you.
Put in what you want to get out.
Smile, and the world will smile back.
You got the music in you.
And, if you would like to be inspired aka meet Saul please let me know:)
This is not half of his story.
And I haven't even started yet on Fidel...
---Being. Consciousness. Bliss.---
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