My love for travel helped me choose construction safety as a career path. I have been in safety for 16 years and counting, and I absolutely love my job. I have been all over the US traveling with work and I love it.
A construction project I was working on in West Texas had been very challenging; I had been away from home for quite some time, and I was tired. Working on the road away from family and friends can be lonely and isolating. I had a moment while traveling to Lubbock on a much-needed day off when I saw a field of sunflowers and had to stop. Signs were posted and public parking and access to the field was granted by the landowner.
I was told by a local farmer that sunflowers are often integrated into crop rotation for many reasons; mainly because it breaks disease cycle in routine crops, and they prosper in the dry Texas climate requiring minimal moisture resulting in higher production with limited watering requirements (and I thought they were just planted to be pretty).
I pulled my camera out of the rental car and headed off to find solace in the sunflower field.
I sat down in the middle of this field of flowers and had a moment of remembering, refreshment, and growth.
Here is what I discovered in the sunflower field:
Sunflowers stand tall and proud (no matter what the weather).
Sunflowers emerge brightly.
Every sunflower is different and beautiful in its own way.
Sunflowers turn their back on the darkness.
Sunflowers seek inspiration to grow by tracking the sun. Once they are mature, they stop tracking the sun and face east permanently.
Sunflowers are full of seeds (ideas). Plant them and they grow and multiply!
With tears running down my face in a field of thousands of sunflowers dancing to the symphony of the movement of the sun, I decided to begin pouring myself into my photography and to chase the dream that has been my goal for years. I snapped photos – to remind me that I learned a little more about myself and my tenacity that day and felt that everything was going to be okay!
Close your eyes, point your face toward the sky, take a deep breath, and bask in the glow of the sun. Follow your dream. It is never too late.