"The Calling" by David McLain

 I love our technology.  I don’t have a Facebook page and I never tweet, but I’m an email and text junkie.  (I am an introvert and a writer after all...it’s more about getting it out than a back-and-forth.)

Occasionally, someone special to me emails me a link to something that frankly, blows me away.  My dear friend, Kim Gustafson did just that last week.  (This isn’t the first time Kim has done this for me; Kim broadens my mind and has introduced me to much that has expanded my thoughts.)

Kim met David McLain’s wife years ago when the two worked together.  David is from Maine and is a professional photographer for National Geographic.  He travels for months at a time for work – as do journalists, soldiers, diplomats, musicians, business people, and many in our world.  For those of us who keep our feet planted on home soil, it’s foreign and out of our grasp of possibility. 

But….for those inspired to do this, David has captured it.  Please watch his video “The Calling” below.  His photography is breathtaking; his words deeply felt; his truth resonates.  I am inspired by the beauty, by David’s words, by the depth of someone following the lead of their calling.

David calls himself a “pilgrim” and describes the “blessing and curse of the calling.”  How I crave a job that “swallows you whole” as David describes his.  We can only hope to be so lucky in life as to have a job that “swallows us whole.”  He says “in 30 years, it never gets old.”  He wonders, “How can I ever explain what I do and why I do it to those I love?”

I can only hope, David, no one asks you to.  Your answer is crystal clear.  Thank you. 

https://vimeo.com/52031763

 

 

 

 

 

Live in Possibility

We visited Savannah, Georgia in September during our college visit tours for our 2^nd son.  It was the first choice college.  It was far away.  It was an art school.  Radical.  Very radical.  

SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) is Savannah.  My cousin, who recently visited Savannah, said I don’t know why they don’t call the city “SCAD.”  Everything is about the art school.  10,000 students descend upon the small city during the school season.  SCAD has revitalized over 80 buildings in downtown; they have an annual film festival that draws Hollywood celebrities; they’ve created a modern art museum that draws tourists; Pixar visits semi-annually to view the students’ work.   All the workers in the shops and restaurants are students of SCAD.  The trolley tours give the history of SCAD and what they’ve done to restore Savannah.

And there I was, going toward the negative for my son.  Savannah’s very far away.  What if he can’t navigate the air travel alone, what if he doesn’t make friends, what if he’s lonely? What if, what if? 

Savannah is a beautiful city, completely different from where we live in New England – the foliage, the historic homes, the residents, the accents.  It’s designed in a grid so is easy to navigate, close to Hilton Head and Tybee Island, miles of beautiful shoreline.  It has wonderful restaurants.  

I was on vacation really, traveling, and I jolted myself out of that negative 50-year-old mind I’ve grown into and said STOP.  “Live in possibility.”  What if my son blossoms in Savannah, makes lots of like-minded friends, and thrives under this incredible opportunity for him going into computer animation/game art/graphic design in the #2 college in North America for this?  “Live in possibility.”  And the promise of GOOD.  Fear not!  Fear, I do not need you!

Photo:  Savannah, GA