Back in Time (Part 4) 2000

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 10 years since the dawn of the new millennium.   I remember vividly all the hype and anticipation in the air as the waning weeks and days of 1999 brought the epochal year closer to reality.   Aside from all the hoopla about the Y2K bug predictions in computers that turned out to be a bust at midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, the actual moment when it was 2000 was quite memorable, not earth-shattering, but quite historically significant.   One could sense, deep down, a change, a new age, so to speak, arriving at the stroke of midnight. 

 I remember also a very special and beautiful book I bought entiitled, "Daybreak 2000:  Earth’s Natural Beauty Captured at the Dawn of a New Age."   The idea for the book came about in 1997.     More than 100 photographers accepted the invitation to photograph the Earth’s natural world as it appeared before them on Jan. 1.   One of my favorite places, Upper Whitewater  Falls on the North Carolina/South Carolina border,  was including along with many others of timeless beauty.    Opposite that photo is one of dawn at Estero Island in Florida, taken at 7:15 am that morning of the first day of the new year and millennium.  It was titled "Sunrise Serenity."   What a lovely way to remember that historic day.

I’m looking through the pages of the book now as I write this, marveling anew at the stunning beauty of the Earth, captured in photographs at many places on our "lonely" blue planet.    I am grateful for all the opportunities I have had over the years since 2000 to embrace digital photography and explore the environs close to me with frequent trips to my favorite nature preserves and parks to take pictures of those most familiar places, but places which, nevertheless, are constantly changing for me, day by day and all through the seasons.

The year 2000 was a rather momentous one for me in other ways than the fact that it was the beginning of a new millennium.   I had two opportunities to make drastic changes in my late-chosen career path, not accepting, after much thought, one job that on paper was the most ideal job I could have taken.   The other was a position in a college that I came very close to getting but ultimately was not offered.  Two fateful decisions on my part and on the part of others judging me for a job.   I ended up staying in the job I have now and where I have worked for the past 15 years.   I am thankful events turned out this way, for after years of graduate school, changing jobs, roaming around the country and being rootless, I was finally able to plant those permanent roots that today have matured into my final job and place of employment before retirement.   But in 2000, I was on the cusp of changes unimagined, as most major events in life are.   

In the year 2000 also, I was firmly moving along with two online journals, including Open Diary, which since 1999 has been a life-changing experience in more ways than I can recount.   In 2000, it was still new and fresh while today I have settled here, even though I write less frequently.   I have laid out an incomplete but detailed story of my life, measured in numerous significant events recounts, memories and thoughts recollected, and essays that, quite frankly, reveal the essence of me, the core of my being, at least as I want it to be known.    It has become "home" for me, just as the longest lasting job I have ever had has become "home" in another sense, as well.  Now, in May 2011 I am where I need to be.   Ten years ago I agonized over where to go in my career.   It’s good not to have to make any more decisions like that.