Joy In Motion
November writing prompt
One of my favorite aspects of photography is its stillness. I look at Marcus’s photo of the Cycad Blue Butterfly and see an inanimate object on another inanimate object. That’s what my eyes see, but my imagination sees a story of motion. It sees a butterfly who glided to and landed on the plant. It sees twitching antennae, wiggling legs, and fluttering wings. A video would rob my imagination of its story.
As I age, I think a lot about motion — because it doesn’t come as easily as it once did. After sitting a bit, I have to shake out my left leg with its wonky tendon before I stand. Rising from bed in the morning requires stretches before my feet hit the floor. I have to consider where I will walk and how long I will walk before I walk. I have to plan when and how I will move and the breaks I need before my next activity.
Motion is now a mental exercise as well as a physical one.
And, oftentimes, my body needs encouragement to move. Because activity doesn’t come as easily as it once did, I sometimes need a push, an urging. I need to find joy in motion so I will not only move but want to keep moving. And I want to enjoy the movement, not merely tolerate it.
The joy may come from sharing my movement with Ben or Syau or having a camera slung…
