A Slice of the Journey...

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The challenge is pink.

The idea is to share your story.

The story about someone you loved.

For those of you who’ve weathered the past few years here at Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living, you’ve heard the story…you lived it with me, back when it was a shattering of what was once reality.

To those of you, don’t expect you to relive it all over again.

Whether or not you choose to go any further, thanks for coming here in the first place. Thanks for those of you who were there years ago, and for those who are here still.

Thanks for keeping coming back…for whatever reason.

Post 1: Come What May
Post 2: Laughter
Post 3: Let it Be
Post 4: Diving In
Post 5: 100 Years
Post 6: Hide & Seek
Post 7: Lessons from an Empty Room
Post 8: The Long Fall
Post 9: I Just Wanted to be Sure
Post 10: Tributary
Post 11: Messages to Heaven
Post 12: Echoes
Post 13: November 26, 2009
Post 14: Out of the Ashes, Beauty Will Rise
Post 15: It's Been a Year
Post 16: Two Years, and I Write

Weekly Kodachrome - The Nephew

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My students—all of the Joeys I’ve had through the years—will always hold a place in my heart. But there is something different about a kid who is your own nephew.

I met him for the first time.

There are those people who always claim that their nephews or nieces are the most adorable children simply because they’re their family. I’m not going to do that…but do I love this kid?

Heck. Yes.

I’d like to cordially invite you to come back later this week to view a few more images.

<center><a href="http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Kodachrome/" target="_blank"><img alt="Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0e1GL4TLj1n6H-veDNFvj6gHUt_9-X1MWA6Qo-0zyEHW2dGTMl4JeI8v_q4AdNQxb8FADxYjLPhQnxl1rEPTU9B2N1_m9vVei9Ea8PXDRASzVKotvo4jseesUFUvqazg0pxtTAN75ao/s800/Weekly%252520Kodachrome.png"/></a></center>

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? If so, feel free to include it in the linky below. 

Remember, by adding your photo into the Weekly Kodachrome meme you are agreeing to do one of the following: display the linky or button to your post, or link back to this post so that everyone gets a little more exposure for the image they’ve uploaded. Those who don’t help to ’share the love’ will have their links removed. You can find the code for the linky HERE.

Girl on a Swing

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I ventured out to the backyard of my friend’s house as the smoke of a nearby bonfire drifted sluggishly through the neighborhood. It coated the air with its substance and sifted the early evening sunlight like gossamer.

The girl emerged silently from the house and moved to the swing hanging from the aged tree, the branch upon which it hung sagging ever-so-slightly beneath her weight. As she leaned back, her hair tumbled about her shoulders - the light glinted off its surface like the sheen of an angel. She swayed silently back and forth, legs pumping in the same rhythm she’d learned when she was little.

And, for a just moment, she was once-again.

If you’d like to see the entries which didn’t make the cut, they may be viewed here. And for those of you who voted for #1, I’ll tell you what...I’ll write about it later on in the week, deal?
Teachinfourth loves ’ya.

I Heart Faces - Back to School

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I am a teacher.

Every year I do home visits to each of my students.

The purpose of these visits are not only to meet my students, but to drop off a few items to get to know them a little bit better before the school year starts.

Usually I do these during the dog-days-sweltering-heat-when-you-shouldn’t-be-out-wearing-a-tie-because-it’s-hot-enough-to-melt-lead part of the year, and not very enjoyable to be honest…but how can one not relish the thrill that comes when your up-and-coming students see you waiting out on their front doorstep and shriek like they’re at a Justin Bieber concert?

For some of them it’s like Christmas come early.

Of course, it’s an experience like THIS that make it the mixed bag that just kind of makes you…well, just laugh.

Like I said, I am a teacher.

Empty Cups and Plates

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In my own little world it hardly ever rains
I've never gone hungry and always felt safe
I got some money in my pocket shoes on my feet
In my own little world
Population me

I try to stay awake through the Sunday morning church
I throw a twenty in the plate but I never give 'til it hurts
And I turn off the news when I don't like what I see
It's easy to do when it's
population me

What if there's a bigger picture
What if I'm missing out?
What if there's a greater purpose
I could be living right now?
Outside my own little world
Stopped at the red light, looked out my window
Outside the car, saw a sign, said "Help this homeless widow"

Just above this sign was the face of a human
I thought to myself, "God, what have I been doing?"
So I rolled down my window and I looked her in the eye
Oh how many times have I just passed her by?
I gave her some money then I drove on through
In my own little world there's
Population two

Start breaking my heart for what breaks Yours
Give me open hands and open doors
Put Your light in my eyes and let me see
That my own little world is not about me

- Matthew West

The Secret

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Remember as a child when you would have a secret that was just so deliciously glorious that you wanted to tell the world? It was just so titillating that you just felt you couldn’t contain it any longer for fear you would burst?

Yeah, I’ve had those secrets before, too…

And no, I don’t have one at the present; I was just curious.


“There are secrets that we still have left to find. There are answers we’re not wise enough to see.”

- John Ondrasik

“The Riddle”

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I was featured for an article I wrote for i Heart faces about four days ago. If you wanted to see the aforementioned literary piece, you could view it here. If you didn’t want to view it, then you could not see it over at that link I mentioned in the last sentence. I also wrote these to help folks become better photographers...feel free to share any of these links with your friends - real or imaginary - Blogging or Facebook - whichever type your friends may be.

Good Friends

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What makes a good friend?

When I was a boy, I would have said it was someone who shared their M&Ms without hesitation. It was someone who wouldn’t share your secrets with another soul, not matter how hard they were pressed in which to do so. It was a person that would stick by you when you were confronted with those tormentors that seem to follow you throughout the varied ages and spaces of your life.

When I was a boy, I’d have said that a friend was someone who was more than willing to overlook your mistakes; they were someone who’d ignore the dumb things you said, and they’d be someone who’d forgive you for the thoughtlessness you show when you didn’t mean to, and love you when you least deserved it.

And do you know what?

I still believe this today…

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The Drink

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Carlos, luckily, just had to be first.

I’m just glad I happened to catch it on film.

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Happy TeachinFOURTH of July 2011

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When I was a kid the Fourth of July was all about Fireworks.

It was about school being out and the long, lazy days of summer stretching out before me; it was about trips to the river with inner tubes in the back of the station wagon and cousins coming to visit for days on end.

The Fourth of July was about family reunions and camping out in the backyard in tents. It was about roasting hot dogs over campfires in the early evening as the smoke from the bonfire drifted lazily through the yard. It was burning marshmallow torches and running through the forest and screaming like banshees. It was a time of night games and insect bites. It was watching shooting stars and making wishes that never quite seemed to come true.

The Fourth of July was standing in front of the makeshift roadside stands with a few dollars I’d been saving for months on end clutched in hand. It was gazing at the rows of brightly packaged pyrotechnics arranged before me, just waiting their time to set the skies ablaze.

The Fourth of July was about blowing up cowpies with my longtime friend, Jess. This was—by far—one of the greatest and little-known pastimes of all. We’d see how close we could get to the bovine pastries and still not get nailed by the flying shrapnel when the crater was blown from the varied meadow muffins we encountered. The fresher the better, and juicy was all about the splatter.

If Jess was icked more then I…well, then life was good.

The Fourth of July was homemade popsicles and sitting the front slab, with the sticky stuff running down your chin and forearms. It was all about sunburns and snickering with friends at those crazy Laffy Taffy jokes until our sides ached.

That was the Fourth of July when I was a child.

But now that I’m older, I realize that the Fourth of July is so much more.

The fourth of July is about freedom. It’s about sacrifice. It’s about the men and women who fought for the rights we have today. It’s about the day we celebrate our independence from England. It’s the day we commemorate the nation we live in and love.

The Fourth of July is all of these things; it is the celebration of the past and the present…and one day it will be the celebration of the future, wherein it will become many more things as well…



Happy TeachinFOURTH of July to you…

You might also want to try Sweet Shot Tuesdays, Show off Your Shot, Your Sunday Best, This or That Thursday, and Community Global for other great photo memes.

King of the Wild Things

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The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind or another...

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You can see the rest of the session here.

I Heart Faces - The Entry

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There is a challenge this week over at I heart Faces:

Shooting the moment in a slice of life.

The main challenge? Not to use poses or set up a shot.


I thought of my good friends and their son, Levi...I'd gone over to their home to take a few photos of Levi just being Levi. When he curled up on the couch with his mother and his balloon, this instantly became one of my favorites.