Do you ever have those weeks when, having reached the end, you look back and realize you are lucky you survived the week with your friends and employment still intact?
Yeah, this week was a doozy for me. I’m not sure why. The work wasn’t harder than usual. The weather broke and we can almost taste fall on our tongues in the mornings. (PS: I’m not ready for fall. The memory of 6 feet of snow is still a little to fresh. But fall in New England, y’all…there’s nothing better. I will be ready soon.) I have kept up my morning walks (though I’ve been slacking on the picking up of the house). I have refrained from launching into a righteous, idealism-fueled rant against guns, Donald Trump, and whatever jerk invented the “comment” feature for online media. I booked flights to Iceland and Berlin, for heaven’s sake, and I’m going to visit the Grand frickin’ CANYON in a few weeks. My family is gonna have a party by the beach in October. By all accounts, it was a good week.
Except for that whole stock market flippin’ out thing, people getting shot on live TV, Katrina remembrances revealing how much farther we have to go, and National Dog Day outshining the anniversary of women receiving the right to vote. Plus me and my ever present inner monologue about all the things that I need to do better (like eat more vegetables, dress more fashionably, go on more/any dates, etc). Yeah, except those things.
So I guess it’s not a surprise that my sarcasm filter slipped a little. I can only take so much. But I really hate it when that happens.
See, it’s a fine line I walk. I went liberal arts school in the northeast, people, and if it’s one thing they teach you there, especially when you hang out with actors and improv-ers, it’s the snappy comeback. Until I went to college, I never knew I had it in me, and mine are often more snarky than funny, but if I’m not careful, I can be a real…well…let’s just say my Arkansas friends sometimes had to remind me to “be nice, Jodi!”.
Anyway, I work next to a co-worker with whom I can snark back and forth all day without worrying about offending; that is truly a blessing. But there is a line. It’s hard to know where it is sometimes, but I’m always trying to keep an eye one it. And at least twice this week, I think I crossed it. I’m not saying the sarcasm wasn’t merited (it was) but like most things that bubble up to the tip of your tongue, it would have been better thought, not said. It felt marvelous for about 2 seconds, and then I felt bad. Really bad. The kind of worry that I remember from junior high, when my fretting about not saying something cool ruined my sleep and made my chest heavy.
I also had a tough time with the #niftyfiftyfriday challenge that I and two of my friends do each week – we have to post a photo shot with our 50mm lens on facebook each Friday, so we can critique and evaluate and learn. I LOVE THIS part of my week, but I couldn’t capture anything on the camera this week. I usually have no trouble finding a subject to shoot, or beauty in tiny things, but not this week. It was annoying.
For the record, I realize that, in the grand scheme of things, these are all #firstworldproblems. But lets leave the judging for another day, shall we?
Anyway, today, I knew a group of us from work were planning to head down to the Greenway (the urban park that was the result of the Big Dig, where they basically buried a highway to build trees and stuff – a winning idea that I’m pretty sure I’m still paying for in my taxes) to check out some public art. I was very excited for this. Just the therapy I needed! I put my camera in my bag first thing in the morning, and did my best to get through the day, with marginal success.
We got down to the park, and it was clear, beautiful Boston night, the kind that goes a long way to toward making us forget that winter is long and cold up here. We strolled and exclaimed over the sculptures, and I snapped happily away. We stopped to sit on the grass, and I accidentally captured the most gorgeous photo of one of my coworkers. I lay on my back and looked up at a huge woven sculpture hanging between skyscrapers, clicking madly, feeling the fist around my chest loosen bit by bit.
Then, I looked down at my camera and realized – no photo card. Which equals no photos. ***sad trombone***
Now, after the aforementioned angst of the week, you’d think I’d have lost my cool, right? I think it’s a mark of supreme maturity that all I could do was laugh, put away my real camera, and get out my smart phone, which, to be honest, probably did just as well at capturing the awesome as my Canon would have (this because I am still very much a “real” digital camera novice).
So, here are a few of my I-Phone photos of my beautiful city. I share them with you from the safe and quiet of my apartment, with my dog, who has no problem tolerating my sarcasm, at my side.
Happy Friday. Enjoy!
Ok, I cheated. I took this one two nights ago at my pond. But it’s so pretty. It was an alternate #niftyfiftyfriday candidate. 
This sculpture is called “As If It Were Already Here” and it hangs between 3 skyscrapers. How cool is that?
I feel like this is made for a movie villain to get caught in.
Who knew grass came in polka dot?
I have never seen this view of my city before. I felt like I should listen to the light and just look for a moment. I only irritated a few tourists by stopping in my tracks. 
Summer. How can you not fill up your good mood tank when you see this? 
Everything and a Racehorse 