The Beauty of Words

As I unpacked my suitcase when I arrived home from Shutter Sisters Oasis, I came across a moleskin journal that I had received while there.  I took it out, set it on a table near my couch and went about my business.  A few days later, I had heard something that I didn't want to forget, so I quickly reached for the journal, grabbed a pen and wrote down what I had heard, words that had really resonated with me: Whatever follows the two words "I am" is going to come looking for you. I had to write them down.  Those words were too powerful not to remember.  Then, because they moved me so, I wanted others to feel their power as well, so I grabbed my phone, snapped a photo and shared it on Instagram.

It's been a few weeks now and surprisingly, I find myself writing something in that journal almost daily.  Even better, I've noticed in doing so I'm feeling more calm and more centered.  For someone with A.D.D. like me, that's a big deal.  When I think it's something that should be shared, I again grab my phone, snap a photo and share it on Instagram.  Not only are these words beautiful to me, but the comments I'm getting on my shared words have been awesome: Thank you for this today; Keep 'em coming!; You have no idea how much I needed this today.   Aren't words just beautiful? What a gift.  

Today, write some words of beauty that mean something to you.  You can use pen and paper, chalk on a sidewalk, lipstick on a mirror.  Then, take a photo with your camera or phone and share them with us.  If you want to share your beautiful words on Instagram, be sure to hashtag them using #thewrittenwords so we can feel their beauty, too.  You can find me on Instagram at chris_sneddon.

I Love L.A.

I am a born and bred Southern California girl and have lived in the suburbs of Los Angeles my whole life. Where else on the same day can you go surfing in the morning and then skiing in the afternoon? Within a 90 minute drive I can be in Santa Barbara, Palm Springs or Mexico. While there are things I definitely do not love about living here (smog, traffic, prices), there are so many things I would never see or do if I lived anywhere else.  

When I heard the Endeavour space shuttle would be making it's final flight over L.A. before landing here for good, I knew there was no way I was going to miss this historic event.  The list of places that she (yes, in my mind, the Endeavor is a girl!) would be doing flyovers were many and I was close to all of them. Heck, all I had to do was stand outside my front door and I would have seen her but I wanted a bird's eyeview.  The flight would be low, only 1500 feet.  Griffith Park Observatory, which was on her list to fly by, is at 1100 feet. At only 400 feet above me head, I could almost reach out and touch her!

I expected a crowd to show up so I planned accordingly.  We left the house at 7:30 a.m. and 90 minutes later we exited the freeway.  What is usually a 10 minute drive up to the observatory took almost 90 more minutes.  When we finally got to the top of the hill with what felt like the entire population of Los Angeles, the excitement was palpable. 

Eyes turned to the sky for what seemed like forever, when first one person called out and than another. "There it is! There it is!".  There was a dot on the horizon that slowly grew larger and as she got closer, the crowd grew louder.  Hundreds (probably a thousand, easily) of cameras and cell phones pointed to the sky, awaiting for that one moment in time that would never repeat again.  When the moment finally arrived and she flew over, the jet engines so loud that you couldn't hear anything else,  it took my breath away.  I suddenly became emotional at the thought that a part of history was coming to an end.  There was cheering and clapping and the crowd began to chant "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!".  That glorious piece of machinery gave us a show and flew over and around us 3 times.  It was magical, awe-inspiring, amazing and I would do it all over again.  I mean, really, only in L.A. are you going to see a space ship right above the Hollywood sign and never think it's an odd sight at all.  I love L.A., I really do.  :)

How about you?  Everyone has something they love about where they live.  Today, share with us what that is.