Past, Present & Future
We passed the Chapel on our way into Yosemite. I was surprised it was there. I've seen photos where it looks like it is in the middle of a meadow, not off the side of the road with a small yard. I wanted to make it back and photograph it before we left. On our last morning there, Derek & I left to first go to the tree where I saw a tiny chocolate colored frog during my photography class. I knew he would like that frog when I saw it and told him about it. I promised I would take him to the tree to look for the frog. We rode the bus and walked back to the meadow to the tree. We didn't see the frog. We walked back to the road. I wasn't sure how to get to the Chapel but I had an idea.
I had to go to the Chapel for my dad. He worked in Yosemite for a couple of years and I know he had to have gone to this Chapel very often. Not only for Sunday Mass, but knowing my dad, he probably went there many other times. I felt the connection that he had been there. I imagined him sitting in the pews, staring at the altar, staring at the wood ceiling, looking out the windows....
We were waiting for the 2 ladies to leave the front of the Chapel to take a picture without them and the passing cars. But I knew, this angle, with Derek in the shot, would be a great memory. I'm so glad I was able to catch this moment in time.
To me it represents the Past: my father; the Present: our family here visiting Yosemite; and the Future: Derek loved being here, loved hiking with his dad and can't wait to come back again. (Unlike the other 2 kids & I, we didn't enjoy being out camping or hiking as much).
I love how he is casual, looking down, but determined with the hiking stick and the silent, still, groundedness of the Chapel and nature around it. I can't look at this picture without tears. My dad would have loved so much to share Yosemite with his grandchildren. The hiking, the nature, my dad loved all of it and all of it meant so much to him.
