Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Where Was This?

Mine
Hers
 I love to travel. Luckily, so do my husband and kids AND my mother. She's come with us on our vacations the past few years and we always have a blast! I was just visiting A Dangerous Business travel blog and Amanda's post there got me thinking. She wrote about traveling with her 86-year-old grandmother and how it changes the experience for the better. I knew exactly how she felt. Traveling with my mother does somehow add a different dimension to our trips. I couldn't put my finger on it exactly until I thought about the pictures we share after our trips. It doesn't seem to matter that we were in the same places at the same time, doing the same things together. Her pictures are always so much more interesting.    
 
Hers
 
I think it has to do with perspective. I spend my vacation time trying to cram in as many sights and experiences as possible. I drag my family around on a pell mell whirlwind of "must-see's" and they go along with me. But I think my mother would probably take a different approach. She is more about soaking up local color; observing people and lifestyles while I'm focused on the place. Simply put, she sees things I miss. Then I leaf through her photos and scrapbooks and want to ask "Where was this?"


In Paris, I was taking pictures of scenery. She was taking pictures of interesting musicians and dogs. In San Francisco, I was capturing the fog across the Golden Gate Bridge. She was taking pictures of ornate doors. My pictures are vacation pictures;
hers are works of art. I take trips; she sees the world.
 
 
 
 
 








3 comments:

  1. Aw, I don't think it's that she sees the world and you don't. I think our unique perspectives and focal points are what make us who we are -- no one better than another, just different. And in fact, putting them together is what MAKES the world. That's why we tell stories, and take photos, and blog, and sing. To weave together all the threads for a bigger, more complete picture.

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  2. You flatter me tooooooo much. The funny thing is that when I see YOUR pictures I want copies of them because it's a record of WHERE we were, and you are much more a "wide angle lens" than I, so you don't shut out any of the best parts!

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  3. I loved this post. It's a good reminder to me to appreciate the small stuff...it really does make life more interesting! Thank goodness for both of you that you had each others' perspectives to look back on and appreciate. Also, how fortunate you are to have a mother that you enjoy traveling with; what a lucky girl you are!!!

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