{"id":778,"date":"2017-06-01T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T07:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=778"},"modified":"2017-06-01T00:01:38","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T07:01:38","slug":"beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"When It Comes to Beauty, I Get Grabby. Here’s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
Christina danced at her wedding, but my memory of that moment of beauty looks a lot like this. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I posted this essay way back in 2009. It’s all about trying to hold on to\u00a0stuff, especially the beauty stuff that life sometimes throws your way. Today, as my daughter’s magical\u00a0Southern California wedding day begins its slow fade into\u00a0sweet memory, I’m once again feeling the need\u00a0to grab beauty by the scruff of the neck\u00a0and not let go.<\/p>\n

On my own wedding day, forty years ago I took notes; I still have them.\u00a0On my daughter’s wedding day, I took pictures. I recorded the couple saying their vows, the cake cutting, the mingling and chatter of the guests. It’s all there, digitized for eternity. Well, for my lifetime anyway.<\/p>\n

Yes, I danced at our daughter’s wedding. Yes, I introduced myself to friends and to Christina’s\u00a0brand-new family members. I enjoyed myself. But I also kept my trusty point-and-shoot\u00a0slung around my neck, my finger on the shutter\u00a0button, at the ready.\u00a0This 2009 story is a perfect fit for\u00a0my mood today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

I confess, I’m not very good at being in the moment, even if — especially if —\u00a0the moment is a nice one. If I’m having a good time, my mind tends to lurch into the future\u00a0to the day when this loveliness will be no more.\u00a0My thoughts\u00a0sink into nostalgia and sadness at the knowledge that everything ends, especially, it seems, \u00a0the really good stuff.<\/p>\n

Be alive to the moment. Be present to the holiness of this place; Buddhism recommends this; modern psychology\u00a0encourages it. Christianity and Judaism know about it. (“Be still and know that I am God.”) In my opinion, it’s what Edna St. Vincent Millay\u00a0was thinking when she wrote “Renascence:”<\/a><\/p>\n

God, I can push the grass apart, <\/em>And lay my finger on Thy heart!<\/em><\/p>\n

The physical therapist reiterates it as she contemplates my overstressed and overdeveloped trapezius\u00a0 muscles. Relax those muscles, she tells me. Let go of that anxiety. Be in the moment. Be here now. Do it!<\/em><\/p>\n

But — and here comes the big but —\u00a0when I encounter something beautiful, I can’t seem to \"Beauty<\/a>just sit there and be with it. For reasons I don’t understand (yet) I am greedy and grasping when it comes\u00a0to beauty.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0exquisitely foggy day in the canyon behind my house? A star magnolia blossom battered by yesterday’s rain? Across the Bay in Marin county, a footpath cutting into the steep western flank of Mount Tamalpais? In Florence, the Last Judgement frescoed onto the interior of the Duomo? On a scorching, sun-pierced day in Bangkok, a Thai peddler offering me a hat?<\/p>\n

In each instance, I feel I must do something about this wondrous event. Make it last. Make it mine. And so, like a lot of people, I get out the camera and take a picture.<\/p>\n

What you see posted here, therefore, is the work of a greedy woman, a person who can’t get enough of that wonderful stuff, beauty. Right now, however, I’m not regretting my greed. As I upload these photos, one at a time, I\u00a0notice myself lingering over them, studying them, savoring them.\u00a0I am lost in the moment.<\/p>\n

More mother-of-the-bride moments at “They Did It. They Got Married. And the Bride Was Beautiful.”<\/a>\u00a0Mother-of-the-groom moments at “Snapping Pictures at My Son’s Wedding.”<\/a><\/em>
\n\"beauty<\/a>\"rain-battered-magnolia-beauty\"<\/a>\"Walking<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Beauty. When I encounter something as beautiful as my daughter’s wedding day I can’t just sit and be with it. I get greedy and grasping. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[43,1773,146,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,32,545,1909,1632],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","tag-beauty","tag-brides","tag-christina","tag-edna-st-vincent-millay","tag-florence-duomo","tag-grabby","tag-grasping","tag-mt-tamalpais","tag-photography","tag-star-magnolia","tag-tess-gadwa","tag-weddings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}