Ah this picture. Far past the subject matter, this picture reminds me of all things good. This was taken at about 5:00am on June 2001. I had gone out to see a band with a girl the night before and then went back to her house and sat around somewhat drunkenly. This was taken on the subsequent walk home.

There’s something about walking through a city when there’s no one else around that just feels amazing. Doing it at 1am or so is good, but for some reason it’s intensified if done just before sunrise. If the night is quiet, the early morning is silent. Everything seems absolutely still. I had walked right down the centerline of a street for a few blocks just prior to this. I saw no people and no cars, and the only sounds were people’s lawn sprinklers and birds.

That entire summer is a complete memory high for me. It was the summer after my first year of university. I was living with friends in a house off-campus, I could do what I wanted, I was working, and even had some money. And I liked a girl. What more is there? I walked home in a blissful braincloud. One of those brief points in times where your head is pushed too far up into the clouds to take notice of what you’re standing on.

I walked around a corner and was hit with this view. I literally stopped in my tracks. My camera was still in my pocket from the night before and despite not having much experience with it at that point I managed to get this moment recorded.

Part of what I equate with this photo is freedom. In looking at it, I remember what those first experiences of moving out on your own were like. Realizing that this was the start of whatever the end would turn out to be.

The rest of the summer followed logically from this point. I spent most of it with the girl and we made (lots of) our own fun. We never ended up getting together, which is kind of fitting really. While we certainly did enjoy each other’s company, we (or at the very least, I) were in a constant state of mass confusion as to exactly what we were trying to do with each other. I do still know her and we are still friends though.

While many of my happy moments of that summer came from a bar, just as many came walking home. Either walking her home, or walking home myself after that. I have yet to be able to really recapture feelings and experiences like I had that summer, so this picture is like a tangible memory.

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