Excited to join the magical world of Instagram, I went outside to find something unique and exciting to snap a picture of just so I could post. I wanted to share my world, as I see it, those little details no one pays attention to until someone else takes the time to notice. As I was walking back to my apartment, I spotted this large pinecone sitting among the sepia and white rocks that dominate the landscape here. I stopped.
When I was a little girl, a giant pine tree grew next to my house. Whenever I wanted to escape, I'd run around the house to that tree, with half the branches gone so they didn't grow into the fake plastic shingles, climb as high as I could, and listened to the sound of the wind mingling with cars passing below. I thought, when I moved to the desert, I'd be saying goodbye to trees -- to falling leaves and the pinecones I'd collect as fall turned to winter.
What did you think you left behind, sometime in your life, only to realize it's been with you all along?