Here, we are overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains in Washington State, in the U.S.
This is my daughter Sarah, seated, at age 10, joined by friend Mia, age 12.
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I was drawn to the dramatic horizontal proportion and barren aspect of this view. The exposed and weather-beaten
outcrop that erosion has stripped of topsoil, right down to the glacier-scarred bedrock.
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My interest was the juxtaposition of two well-fed, healthy ‘tweens’ set into this stark environment. A lone pine tree
has managed to somehow find purchase and survive, beyond the odds, in what looks like an uncomfortable,
exposed crevice. Still ... it is life. Would it complain, if it could? Or just be happy for a chance at any life, no matter
the circumstances?
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My oldest daughter, Charlotte, age 14, has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. For her, that comes with an avalanche of
what would be, for most of us, unimaginable complications and challenges. She, too, is living her life, wedged into
the uncomfortable crevice of an inhospitable body. Against all the odds, she constantly reaches for the sky and
turns her face to the sun. And when the going gets hard, it is Charlotte, bent by the elements she faces every
moment of every day, who gives the rest of us shelter in the strength of her enormous spirit.
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I believe that, despite her burdens and pains, she is happy to be alive. It keeps me going. If she’s happy, I’m happy.
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Mark Heine