Milemarkers

I have used up all the storage on my phone. Do I buy storage or edit my stuff to keep what truly has meaning? I have decided to go through my phone and delete a lot of stuff. Things that seemed important at the time, stuff that is no longer necessary like my boarding passes and QR codes are all going in the electronic trash.

What I’ve noticed as I go through this process is how many images are milemarkers for remarkable events in my life. The birth of our grandsons. The 7-person pyramid on a high wire led by Nik Wallenda was spectacular. Important events in the lives of people we love. It’s all in there. And what I have come to realize is that some images are just that, images. But, some images are a record of milemarkers in our lives.

I had a milemarker day in Hawaii. We kept postponing our snorkel trip because of the Pineapple Express weather pattern that was making the seas unusually active. On our last day we finally had a chance to do some snorkeling in Molokini Crater. It is a volcanic crater that has been partially eroded so you can enter the semi-circle on one side. It was beautiful. But, what makes it a milemarker for me is that at the end of the trip the boat captain drove around to the back of the crater in what is called the Deep Blue.

The color of the water is an indescribable blue. It’s about 225 feet deep so you can’t see the bottom. The light from the sun and the quality of the water itself is breathtaking. I felt like I was on another planet. It was a floating, diving, immersive experience. I was without words.

We were staying with friends and one of them is, well there’s only one way to put it, obsessed with the color blue. He tricked out his car with blue lights, his porch has a blue light, he has surrounded himself with attempts to recreate the color of the deep blue. Finally, after knowing him for years, I got it. There’s so many colors out there but, then there’s BLUE.

The experience of floating in the Deep Blue is magical. If you’ve had the chance to do it, you know what I mean. It has been added to the list of many of my life’s milemarkers as a remarkable experience.

I highly recommend having a wander through your images. Take note of the ones that take your breath away. The significant people, events and experiences of your life. They are not milestones - stationary objects that you pass, such as a specific birthday. They are milemarkers. They mark a time that you were forever changed.