Danielle Fox Photography » A journal about life, relationships and The Space Between, Austin, TX

A few weekends ago, my family and I had an awesome cultural experience. We celebrated a Shabbat meal together. Shabbat is Hebrew for sabbath, and involves two interrelated commandments: to remember (zakhor) Shabbat, and to observe (shamor). We are not practicing Jews, but we do appreciate Jewish culture and many of it’s symbolic traditions.

The Shabbat meal was the occasion for everyone to do it up big time. Fine china, delicious food, and thorough enjoyment of both.

This pretty lady prepared the whole thing.

Lighting the Shabbat candles

Reading from Scripture

Each one of us received an individual blessing from my dad.

Pretty excited about mine!

Even down to the littlest.

Washing, signifying clean hands and a pure heart.

Breaking the hallah as a reminder of Christ’s body, broken for us.

Group hug. Because we are family. And we love each other.

As a photographer, I am often in the middle of the action. Other times I am an observer from a distance. I consider myself an observer of life and people. So, naturally, my favorite way to be as a photographer is an observer. I study the lives of people and then capture them as a they continue in their natural rhythms of life.

Sweet goodbyes to her ninety-seven year old grandfather.

Random bits of yesterday…
Yesterday I was drinking from a water bottle and suddenly realized I was consuming my 4 year old sisters backwash as well. I looked at the bottle and saw a small city floating around at the bottom. Delish.

Yesterday I spent some time with a ten year old friend of mine. She sat in the back seat while I drove her to ballet. On the way home she started telling me jokes and riddles. I warned her that I’m really bad at those kind of things. She continued anyways. “Knock-knock”  ”Who’s there?” and on and on. Then I remembered a joke I read from a joke book my grandma gave me when I was ten.  I’ve been saving it in my joke-arsenal to use at the perfect moment. This was it.

“What did the hot-dog say when he won the race?” I asked excitedly. “I’m a weiner!” She thought it was a good one.

Then she started making up her own riddles. I can always tell when a kid is doing this, because the riddles start getting excessively long and complicated. I zoned in and out and she was STILL talking. Finally she stopped, but I didn’t realize the joke was over. There was a pause of silence and then she asked, “Get it!?”  I didn’t get it.

Check this one out, though. She made it up on the spot.  ”There were two piggy banks, one was large and the other small. The small piggy bank said, “I’m lookin’ goooood.”  The large piggy bank said, “I need to lay off the cash.”    Lay off the cash?! I definitely laughed out loud at that one.

Yesterday I was waiting for some food at a restaurant when I noticed a couple sitting in the corner. They weren’t talking. They weren’t angry either. It just seemed like they had run out of things to talk about over the years. They spent most of the time staring off into the distance and every once and in a while they’d look at each other. It made me feel awkward just watching. I wonder how their dates grew to be silent.

Love grows cold when curiosity dies.

iPhone pic in a parking lot. The sky is one of my favorite things in life.

2010. It’s here. Wow. I can’t believe it has been ten years since we were stockpiling food for Y2K.  A decade has come and gone and a lot of people are still trying to figure out what to do with all the MRE packs still sitting in the bottom of their pantry.

I spent most of this afternoon and evening planning for a year most people aren’t thinking of: 2015. Maybe it sounds crazy to plan that far ahead? After all, things change, life happens, who can know the future? BUT. Stick with me for a minute…

I’m a big fan of World Domination. In reality, I don’t intend to “take over the world” but, in a very real sense, I hope to use every bit of my life to influence my own little world and fill it with all that is Life-giving and Beautiful. That’s a pretty large task- one that requires vision, planning and some serious execution.

Living in this moment (2010) with the vision of greater moments yet to come (2015), gives clarity on how to spend my time and what it will mean to actively work towards those moments. So, I look to 2015 and try to envision what COULD BE. The sky is the limit. Then I write down those crazy dreams and think about what it will cost me to see each one become a reality. Lastly, I start backtracking to where I am now, 2010, and create a plan.

It’s often said that two-year-olds most favorite thing to ask is, “why”. I have to admit, that’s a question I still ask all the time. If I don’t know WHY I am doing something, I struggle doing it. I get disenchanted with mundane tasks and everyday life pretty easily. But, when I know WHY I am doing seemingly small tasks I find the fortitude to follow through. I can’t know WHY though, unless I have taken the time to think through for WHAT. Purpose gives meaning.

Where will you be in 2015?  Why will you do what you do in 2010? How will you leave an impact on your world? What will it cost you?

I’d love to hear what you come up with. Snack on an MRE while you’re at it.