Step Away from the Cash and Prizes

2009 was quite the eventful year. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll reflect on a few of the noteworthy happenings that led me to where I am today in 2010. When I retire, hardy har har, I hope to write my memoirs. Unlike Kramer's blog, mine will be an episodic work of juicy, sometimes emotionally gut-wrenching, melodramatic moments, pacified with humor. Let's begin with a quote by Mark Twain:

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus!"

I was raised, for the most part of my life, by my mother and father, both German immigrants. At the age of 14, my parents divorced and my mother, brother and I moved to what was then, West Germany. We lived with my Oma (German for grandmother) in Voehringen, which at the time, was a small industrial community surrounded by endless fields of corn and privately owned forests in southern Bavaria. http://www.voehringen.de/ Culture shock, not so much, as I vacationed there every summer, but life-altering, jawohl!

Focus, work, structure, cleanliness, order, discipline and efficiency pretty much summed up what was expected of me. At 18, I finally rebelled and moved back to New York to live with my father and evil step monster. My "Rebel Without a Cause" lifestyle was short-lived in the Wuest household. Dad ruled with an iron fist. Step monster made Hannibal Lecter look good. To top it off, I had a full class schedule in college, worked two jobs and my social life was non-existent. More on this in a future blog.

Either way, I've always enjoyed photography, but never looked at my surroundings quite like I should have. It took many years to look at my life not just as a span of time, but to notice all the moments as unique, intricate details and thus really see the beauty that surrounds me everyday. You can miss a lot if you only look straight ahead. So, here goes. Below are a few photographs I took of people, places and things which I previously would have just walked past:

Lettuce growing in my mother's garden in Strawberry, Arizona. http://www.angelfire.com/az/strawberrypine/

A waterfall I stumbled upon while hiking along the Mogollon Rim, Arizona. http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/recreation/mog_rim/rec_mogollon.shtml

Swallows cooling off atop a water fountain in Innsbruck, Austria. http://www.innsbruck1.at/

Icicles melting from the warmth of the morning sun.

Springtime in New York, Washington Park.

Door to the Casa della Mina at the Agriturismo Corboli in Vernio, Italy. http://www.agriturismocorboli.it/index.php/en

A random building in Manhattan.

One of the many hidden courtyards in Florence, Italy. http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/florence_italy.htm

Somwhere along the Gotthard Pass in Switzerland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Gotthard_Pass

Setting sun, Outerbanks, North Carolina.

Larry, my partner in crime; my soul mate. His story inspires me everyday and reminds me to not sweat the small stuff. http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/1999/nov/15/pine_man_battles/ Most of us pass by those with disabilities (I hate to call it that, but it is what it is). I didn't. How lucky am I??!!!