5 Photos I Didn't Take

First view of the Grand Canyon as an adult. You are traveling on a mesa but don't really realize it until you walk to the edge of the Canyon and then you see it and it is so awesome. I had to fight back tears it was so amazing. I took other pics that day but that first view I wish I had today even though a picture could never come close to the real thing.

Tornados in Texas as a Child. I remember traveling to see my Grandparents near Lubbock, Texas and a storm blew in and we could see the tornados across a field as we stopped our car and just held on. I remember my sister singing to me to calm me down even though she was scared to death herself. There was hail the size of golfballs totally hammering the car. I don't remember how long we hung out but it was a scary moment and cool at the same time. The storms would come in so fast and then be gone when I lived in Texas. One minute it would be clear and then the next huge black thunderheads and tornados, piercing rainfall and/or huge hailstones. Certainly glad I don't live there now.

My Dad When He Finally Let Go and Died. He was such a great guy and when he got very ill I went down to Oregon to see him again. His last lucid words to me were "What are you waiting for?" when I told him I was there to take him home. We met with the hospice folks, had them put in a morphine pump, and took him home. We had a hospital bed set up in the living room for him and the 3 kids kept watch and cared for him. My Mom was a bit distant at that point and I think she felt guilty for wanting it to be over yet not wanting that. I'm not sure about that. I stayed with him until I could not stay awake any longer and when I had slept for a few hours my brother came to tell me that Daddy was gone. I think it would be a good thing to have a picture of him then. I had never seen him so fragile.

Pagosa Springs, Colorado as a Child. I remember going through here to ski (I lived in Northern New Mexico) and just to visit the area in the summer. One memory I have is of the greenest fields and deer just standing there grazing. I have always wanted to return to this spot and maybe even move there but now there are a gazillion condos and such in that spot and it has lost the glamour it had when I was young.

Any Candid Shot of The Family When I was a Child. I have some photos but none are really candid shots of what really went on every day in our lives. Maybe if I had more of that type of shot I would remember better how things really were. I think I do but I'm not sure.