DAMIEN RILEY | World Music | HQ Blog

I’m moved by beauty in nature every day. The last time it brought me to tears was when I re-watched the movie “A River Runs Through it.” The nature in the movie is as you would expect, a river. Interwoven into that nature are the words of loved ones in Norman Maclean’s memory. The protagonist is at the end of his life out fly fishing. Though the people in his life have all passed, he sees life as a place where all the people come together and a river runs through it.

His brother Paul was always living in big brother’s shadow. He took a shortcut to wealth by gambling. Time after time in the film Norman paid his bail after fighting or being drunk in public. One night, the worst happens and the father says in his sermon, “We can love completely without complete understanding.” The story of these brothers along with so many parables drawn from the Montana forests works together to bring out emotions I found hard to subdue. We can learn so much from nature. So many of life’s questions can be answered when we spend time in nature. When the answers come, they often lie too deep for tears.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Moved to Tears.”

Summer is my favorite time of year. I have vivid memories of doing stuff with my family of origin over the Summers. I remember washing cars and going places where we bought sodas like Mountain Dew from vending machines. I remember lakes and liquor stores where I’d buy Star Wars cards and candy. I remember jumping in freezing cold water and laying out in the sun on a towel or even a rock to dry off. All of it was amazing. Now as an adult, let me tell you three reasons why Summer is still my favorite season: the sun is good for me and builds vitamin D, I am usually not working, and I get to take lots more photos than other seasons of the year.

First, the vitamin D. Feeling the sun on my skin has to be one of the best sensations I have. I can feel the sun healing me from ailments as I dry off. I’ll always love that coconut scent of milky white suntan lotion. Nowadays with our kids, we buy the spray kind and it doesn’t usually ave that aroma but I still remember it and when I can smell it at the beach, it always brings me back to my childhood. Speaking of the beach, I’ve been to may but these days my choice is Laguna Beach. There are few rocks along the shore and it’s really a natural cove that allows for smaller waves. I once heard a professor of marine biology share that the composition of seawater is almost exactly the same as the amniotic fluid. She went on to say that some people say when they go in and out of the ocean it’s as if they had been reborn. I’ve always liked that analogy.

Second, I usually don’t have to work. I wrote a full post on this the other day and why I make no apologies for being off for the Summer as a teacher. I chose this job because it would allow me to explore my small hobbies and interests while still being able to provide for my family. I learn so much about blogging every Summer because I apply myself to reading, writing, and learning. I also read up on the latest teaching theories and get ready all Summer log for my forthcoming class. My family usually takes vacations but this year we’ve been fixing up the backyard so we’ll likely be staying home and enjoying the pool more than driving long distances.

Third, Summer is the best time to take pictures. I’ve taken thousands of photos, most of which I have archived on Flickr. People are more likely to pose in Summer and the lighting and backgrounds are better than other times of the year. People are relaxed and that’s the best way to capture their images. I have a Canon DSLR and of course an iPhone that takes pretty great pictures. I have both nearby at all times during the Summer so I can get the good stuff to share on social media and enjoy with family later.

In conclusion, I enjoy Summer for a myriad of reasons. It is the time I build myself back up after a year of being up and down in the struggle to meet the demands of a teaching career. When I sat down to write this, I could see there were clearly three main reasons I love Summer the most: the sun is good for me and builds vitamin D, I am usually not working, and I get to take lots more photos than other seasons of the year.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Turn, Turn, Turn.”

I was 8 in Mission Viejo, CA. Those days consisted of exploring, to every extent of the word. The biggest example was exploring down the creek. We found wonders in mud and pieces of trees that had fallen and broken into branches and driftwood.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “The Early Years.”

We’d get into trouble with our mother who many times had to hose us off before we went into the house. We trudged through sludge looking for some hidden cave or passageway we could discover and call our own. We were peaceful kids, never fighting down the creek. There were a couple incidents however I do recall where slightly older kids got into some semi-violent stuff. Some boys who lived on another street had tied up a frog by it’s hind leg and shot it repeatedly with a bee bee gun. Even after it was dead, boys took turns aiming and pelting. We weren’t there but ;ater heard the story and every kid who heard it could verify it by visiting the scene. I was repulsed by this, the same way I cringed when kids would set off firecrackers.

Another group of kids were struggling once, or so I heard, to pull up a metal grate. It must have weighed 100 pounds. The story went that these kids pulled it up and a particularly thrill-seeking type kid went down the underground ladder. They accidentally dropped it on his leg and there was a lot of blood. Days later we would travel to that grate that the police and the paramedics replaced and see the stains that we thought were surely blood. I swear I saw a piece of leg meat. I remember thinking how mean those kids were. We walked back home that day picking up surveying stakes pretending they were daggers. Construction tape and ties were always being laid for new suburban homes. It was a lot like ET if you’ve seen that movie and remember what it looked like.