Hope
I love this picture.
It was taken about 26 years ago, of a friend of mine, but it's timeless. To me, it represents hope.
I've been wanting to write something about this photo for a while now, but I couldn't really put it into words. "Hope" was about all I could come up with. Up until last night I kept relating hope as an escape from the impending winter, the dark and the cold that is already here and is still coming at us. I look at this picture and I think about promise, the promise of light and Spring, but also the promise of a future and what lies ahead. Baseball is so symbolic of that to me because I remember back when I was a kid, toiling through a bleak February, knowing Spring was coming, wishing for baseball, wishing for Spring.
I still feel that way.
But last night I spoke on the phone to a very good friend from days gone by. We've been in touch, it wasn't a reconnect. It was a checking in. We live miles apart, and I know how her life has been since we lived next door to each other. I know the challenges she has faced and continues to face. But last night for the first time I heard something in her voice that I hadn't really heard since we've reconnected. In her voice I heard despair. Her challenges are huge, enormous, nothing I could ever have handled had it been me in her place. I admire her strength, and I will never fault her weakness. In her failures I see successes, and I don't know that I can find the right words to make her really believe that, to make her have as much faith in herself as I do. I think she fears the loss of hope, and I don't know how to help her get it back. Except to show her, maybe, my symbol of hope, and pray she finds her own.
Hope is never gone. It hides, it hides a lot, even if it isn't trying to. But it's always there. It has to be, because without it we couldn't possibly survive.
This picture makes me smile, it makes me feel happy, a longing for earlier Springs, and hope for impending ones. For an instant it brightens a dark night, breaks through the rain clouds that can weigh on my soul. It helps me find my hope.
I just wish I could help my friend find hers.
posted by JJ @ 5:00 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
This Photo reminds me of how loud a ball hitting a wood bat is.
Brings back the greatest feeling you can ever imagine , hitting a ball that disappears behind the outfield fence.
I see why, now.
I think being a friend.. a true friend can always bring someone HOPE. It proves that there IS always someone out there that cares about YOU and has hope for all your life has to offer and how much life has to offer you.
Nicely written, J
Lorie
This picture reminds of of my dad and his love of baseball, which filtered down to his 6 children. It reminds of me Jeri playing T-Ball, then softball. Good times. It also reminds me of my sister who would listen to the PDX Beavers on the radio when we were kids, and kept her interested in baseball yet today. It reminds me of her accident several years ago, getting hit in the eye by a baseball and losing her eye. She was the pitcher, which is ironic since our maiden name was Pitcher! And you know what, she never gave up hope ~ she no longer plays on her softball team, but we do allow her to go to games if she is dressed like the Michelin Man!! Last year she got hit in the forehead with a bat, and not the flying kind :-) JJ, this picture reeks of hope and thank you for sharing. Nana
One of your best posts ever....speaking of hope
GO DUCKS!!!!
What a very nice post. Thank you. That is a great photo.
It was rather interesting for me to read this post. Thank you for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more soon.
Thanks to everyone for commenting. See? It's not all bitterness and criticism. Sometimes I actually feel.
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