SPEAKING OF SELF-PUBLISHING

 Speaking of self-publishing, I've probably mentioned this before, but here we go again....I also write a bit, some poetry and prose. Here's a bit of prose I came up with one day when contemplating how, should you be lucky enough to live to an old age, we tend to travel full circle:-

FULL CIRCLE

It is said that should we be lucky enough to survive into old age that we shall travel full circle.

I hold in my hands an album of family photographs. There are many photographs with quite common themes, children in their infancy, children at various stages of growing up, graduations and marriages. There are descriptions on the backs of the photographs. There are several photographs of an infant that catch my attention. He appears smiling and happy. His eyes, however, reveal no emotion for the child in the photograph knows nothing of his future. That his tummy is full, that he’s warm, and that he is loved is all that’s important. 

Another photograph taken a few years later is one of those photographs that used to be taken of school children who were perhaps six, or seven, years of age. In this photograph the child appears nervous, but is smiling. No doubt he’s been encouraged to smile by the  photographer. He’s aware, but he’s still not really aware as his future has yet to be determined.

Years later as a teenager he’s depicted as confident, cocksure of himself, yet naive. Wedding photographs of the boy matured into a man, much like those taken at the launching of a ship, herald the beginning of a voyage with every hope for fair weather. 

There are many photographs taken throughout the voyage. Some reveal happy times while others depict proud moments, but like a ship that has endured the forces of nature the man in the photographs is beginning to appear weathered, and tired, and worn. The photographs reveal that he’s aware, yet he no longer appears really aware as his future is no longer certain. His world, a world that he helped to change, is no longer his world but the world of another generation. He smiles, but you can see that he’s nervous, confused, and just a bit angry. 

There’s a final photograph of the man celebrating a birthday. He’s much, older. His smile says that he’s happy, but his eyes are on another world. That his tummy is full, that he’s warm and that he is loved is all that’s important.

https://www.blurb.ca/b/10310324-aurora-borealis

This sketch bears no connection with the bit of prose that I've posted. I include it as a reward for your patience in perhaps considering what I've written. However, it is connected to another piece that  wrote regarding a journey taken years ago. Perhaps, we'll do another posting to highlight my writing attempts at sometime n the near future.

Watercolour Field Sketch             Waterton Lake National Park