LEARNING TO FLY by Sally DeMasi

I was a “dotcomer” who had made it– so I thought.

Divorced, I struggled to raise my daughter through all the challenges we single moms face.  I worked – I worked – I worked, and finally I hit the gold mine of stock option rewards pursued during this technical career- so far from the creative path desired.

Life, real life, was non-existent as I struggled with 14 hour work days. Traveling for work to places I once found exotic and exciting had become wearing on my body and soul, risking danger on journeys to third world countries in pursuit of success. All relations were put on hold.

An aching vacancy invaded my body. I woke one day to ask that timeless question “what is the meaning of life?” 

It certainly wasn’t the painfully earned material things I possessed. Spurred by resolve to find my answer I acquired the dog I longed for, eliminated possessions by giving to those most in need. I rejected assignments to free time to train my pup. I reconnected with friends, did the spiritual work.

One day I surprised myself buying a second car – a forest green Cherokee Jeep – quite a challenge to my beloved red baby Z3 now sitting adjacent to it as a new addition in my garage. A focus was shifting to the outdoors I once felt passionate about. 

Somehow the strange combination of Jeep and dog led me to reinvention and achieving my hidden desires.

Soon life altering decisions were made. I quit my job, packed belongings and with dog in tow, my happy jeep headed for the hills of Idaho to the small town of McCall embedded in the beautiful Payette Forest.

I purchased a home ringed with mountains and survived many hardships including bat invasions, snakes, bears, not to mention 8 feet of snow during bone-chilling minus degrees encountering power and heat outages. I set up a home office and am currently pursing my creative dream of photography in this small rural environment relying on my sole as support.

Contributing to this area whose primary focus is family, community and truly living life – I’ve found my reward for striving.

I look out from my loft this first spring, to enjoy Bluebirds, Swallows, Starlings, Sand Hill Geese, and Raptors, barely brushing my window, silhouetted against snow capped mountains. Joy, rejoicing and living life to its fullest – NOW is mine.

I’ve found paradise, wings and blessings.

It just took courage to turn my back on material things and discover the confidence to realize I could be anything I really wanted to be.

YOU, TOO, CAN REINVENT YOUR LIFE — maybe all that’s needed is a good car and a dog to fly.

Peru, 2008, on the way to Machu Picchu by Sally DeMasi

Sally DeMasi is a photographer, based in McCall, specializing in adventure world travel, and “capturing the moment” of people’s daily lives. You can enjoy her photographs and stories on: www.sallydemasi.com. Sally wrote the above article when she first moved to McCall in 2002 and received an Honorable Mention in the April Henry contest.  She adds the below message and update to the article:

During the last 8 years, I’ve grown – both as a person and a photographer doing what I love.

I’ve got to explore, solo backpacking all over the world taking photographs during my journeys documenting various cultures – realizing how similar we all are. I’ve risked on these adventures canoeing/camping in the Amazon, meeting shamans with miraculous herbal cures, gracefully (well, maybe not) dropping down a cliff on a rope to a beautiful secluded waterfall in Costa Rica, experiencing a very emotional Machu Picchu photo shoot at sunrise and embedded in a 30 foot wall of water in Hells Canyon’s “Green Room” while rafting, I survived, but most importantly, felt alive.

I now truly call myself a “Photographer”. Not someone who aims and clicks but someone who feels emotions, colors, the shapes of life.

“The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths, offered by the present, but a place that is created, first in the mind, next in will, then in activity. The future is not someplace we are going to, but a place we are creating.”

 

Advertisement