[the power of a photograph] | newburyport ma

i found this image in my archives tonight. i know. i know. i have a cigarette in my hand. it was a djaram to be exact. and i was sitting on the spanish steps. people watching. in rome. (everyone had a cigarette in their hand and it was a fleeting thing for me i hadn't smoked in years) seems like another lifetime ago. i wasn't married. mom was still here. although she was working hard at getting better. i remember being afraid to leave the country, afraid to leave her time zone. ridgefield was still there as home. i wasn't pregnant or even thinking about being pregnant. (that would change the next month.) i just jetted off to rome with some friends. simple. and wonderful. i look at this photo and i remember the meg of march 2005. perhaps a bit hipper, obviously younger. a boston gal. a much different meg than the one of february 2011. sitting there thinking. and watching. and amazed at the beauty that is rome. never did i think that 6 years later would i have a beautiful little girl snoring next to me, a husband, a now defunct tea house, mom trying out her wings, a new career, dad remarried and moving to florida, and of course some more pounds. oh how life changes on a dime. 
the power of a photograph. to help me remember the meg i used to be and to shape the meg i am and the meg i will be. photography does that. an image can take you away to another place and time. it can be a reminder of your dreams, your goals, your happiness, your sadness. an important emotion or thought forever framed. it has made me who i am today. it will mold me for my tomorrows. photography makes my heart happy. oh and no.... i don't smoke anymore. xo

[spanish steps. roma 2005 mar]