Friday, June 13, 2003 -

 Friday, June 13, will always be a lucky day for me. It is the day I began my journey of self-discovery and self-love. 

Newly graduated from Utah State University, I went to Crisfield, Maryland, with a group of about 20 people from a variety of backgrounds, to do research on this maritime community. Our assignment was to capture a snapshot in time of this area through photography, interviews, and our own experiences in the area, for the Smithsonian's Folklife Center. 

Crisfield was once considered the crabbing capital of the world, and with lots more imports, this industry was declining, hence so was the community and the ways of the crabbing culture. I've written about this several times on my blog. 

I made amazing friends, learned to love the comunity, loved the land and the water, and came home, three weeks later, a totally changed person with confidence, humility, and skills that have benefitted me to this day. Three weeks was all it took to put me on the trajectory to being me. 

I will always honor and cherish this time, the people I worked with, the people of the community, and those who made this possible. I'm reaching out in the best way I know how, to give my love to those who helped me learn to love myself. 

To Polly, Kristi, Tim, Brad, Dan, Rosemarie, Roberta, Maria, Jennifer, Gracie, David, James, Lora,     and others: 

May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, may you live with ease.