Twists, turns, rough back trails, smooth overrun highways, and unexpected cliffs. These are what make up the paths we travel through in life. These are how we are tested and tried, we find out what kind of grit we can muster and where we will break. Although most of us stretch and reach for perfection, it is in the struggle to get there, not pretending that we are, that we find true beauty.
We all start the same; infants, then children, teens, and then into adulthood we grow. Because of the varying cumstances of life, it may seem like that’s where the parallels end. Everyone of us is an individual born into different cultures, social environments, and with different temperaments. Being born and growing is not where our similarities die. That is just where they begin. We each have our own journeys, and while they are not the same, we can empathize, sympathize, and console each other in knowing that we have all been through “it”. We all know “it”. “It” is when we know we’ve bombed a test and are freaking out that it also bombed our grade. It’s when we are so in love that we don’t want to be bothered with anything else. It’s when our brains won’t process after being up all night with a crying child. It’s when we’re at our wits end trying to figure out how to make ends meet. It’s when we blow a tire outside Gallup, NM and we have no spare. It’s when a kind stranger keeps his garage open late to replace said tire. It’s when our whole insides feel like they’re on the outside for everyone else to see. We’ve been up and down these rolling hills more times than we can count and we come out of them with a little more wisdom, scarring, humanity, and (hopefully) humility than when we began. If we are lucky, we get to share that wisdom with someone else. If we look outside ourselves, we get to feel a connection to someone else. We will see beauty in the tear and smile line. We will see wisdom in the gray hair and the laughter of a child.
After 50 years of life and photographing my experiences, I’ve found that within the breaks and the triumphs, there is beauty. We feel. We feel deeply. Often we hesitate to share the depth of our emotions because of embarrassment or the personal nature of our situation. At times we can feel disheartened, dysfunctional, deserted, or delighted. I hope this collection can inspire discussion of these emotions. They are actually the things that bind us together. Let’s feel them together, or at least acknowledge that we are not alone. We are all a little Discombobulated.
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