Cleaning out the photo files

Each year, I clean out the photo files. With a digital camera, I think I take about 3,000 photos annually but eventually only keep about 500. As I sort through many favorites, I thought I would share a few that I loved, the way they turned out or the story they tell.

Here they are: (Click on the photo to see a larger, more vivid photo)

The best sunset picture I have ever taken... Colorado Rockies!


The blank looks when you need to pull yourself from a race early...

It's not a good place to have both feet off the ground at once...

No, it is not tie-dye. A bloody nose went back miles earlier. When the blood stopped, just put the shirt back on.

This was taken at FANS... Minimalist?

So we are at another year's end. They come and go so fast...

As I approach 2011, I have some questions to which I may have some answers. I am closer to my 50th birthday and cannot wonder why everyone is getting old around me? Why do people refer to 50 as the Middle Ages? Does this mean I am going to live to be 100? I doubt it!!! If I am only as young as I fell, how does that account for all my worn-out parts? If I get my parts updates, will I be the man of steal? Why do I keep asking this body to hurry up when, in reality, I am slowing down?

I have questions as I ponder the past year and many past ones. Although, I can honestly say I have learned a few things about life in general:

• No matter how bad someone treats you, they are human, and we must learn to forgive.
• I cannot solve all my problems, so I must stop trying to solve other people's problems.
• Always put a "No Trespassing" sign above your "welcome" mat.
• Worry works; everything I worry about seems not to happen.
• If I pluck all my gray hairs so as not to become gray, I will be bald.
• Plucking those hairs from my ears and nose is easier than finding them.
• When I was 19, I knew everything; there was no need to ask. By the time I was 30, there was more to know. But by the time I was 40, my kid knew everything and corrected all my mistakes. Now, I am pushing 50, and I know that I have so much more to learn.
• Every day is a struggle, yet I wake up each morning thankful to be alive and given another day to get it right.
• I am blessed to still have all God's blessings: Sight, Sound, Touch, Taste and Smell.
• I am thankful that I have met so many people and have had so many people in my life.
• Other people's pets have taught me more about God's love than 1,000 sermons!
  

So if I wait to post for the rest of the year... Thanks for reading (suffering or enjoying) my thoughts this year. Until then, think about the following...

"People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas."

"Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better human."

Carry on, my friends... carry on...