This morning, I was curled up in our bed watching cartoons with the kids.  The moment was perfect.  The moment was precious.  The moment was one that the person I was five years ago, would never have been able to imagine in her most wildest of dreams.

Two hours ago, I was asked that very question…what would your five year ago self think of the life you are currently living?  Who are you when no one else is looking?  These questions flooded me.  So much so that I needed to step back…look around…and ask myself if I was really willing to hear the answers…

As I write this, I’m at the super swanky Jupiter Hotel in Portland, Oregon.  It’s about one o’clock in the morning back home but the sun is just starting to go down here.  Sushi restaurants are filling up…people are having drinks on local patios…and a cool breeze is making me reach for my sweater for the first time in three months.  An immensely remarkable turn of events has brought me here to this place…asking these questions…opening myself up to these answers.

While the three most important people in the world to me are sound asleep nearly four thousand kilometres away…I’m here with sixty other photographers and artists to make honesty our only policy.  We’re not here to compare work…to discuss technique…or to gain more twitter followers.  We’re here to reconnect with why we started it all in the first place.  We’re here to make sure that our cause is genuine.  We’re here to ensure that we never lose ourselves along the way.

Or maybe that’s just why I’m here.

Maybe those are just my questions.

I’m not really sure.

But that’s okay too.  To not know.  Because what I do know is that it’s time.  I’m ready.  Change is about to happen.  And that’s exciting.  And scary.  And thrilling.

Another thing that I know for certain, is that for all the answers that I don’t know…and for all the questions that I may not expect; that life…those three pieces of my heart that are four thousands kilometres away…they are what matter.  They are the single most important reason for being here.  And if nothing else…that might be the only answer I need.