By Scott Shephard

Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer

I was taken by a photograph of you

There were one or two I know you would have liked a little more

But they didn’t show your spirit quite as true

-Jackson Browne

It is fitting that I end 2019 with a photo of the person who has helped make this year such a good year. Though I am often unaware of it and rarely voice it, I could say that about every year since 1972, when our lives collided in such a wonderful way.

Deb has never encouraged me to take her photo. Because of that, I don’t have many of her - certainly not of her alone. What you are looking at today is yet another rare early photo of mine that I had forgotten I had. Back in 1972, I was taking most of my photos on black and white film, developing the film and then making prints of a very select few, which explains the paucity of prints. I loved the darkroom. There was great mystery in the process because you really didn’t know what you had until the print began to appear in the soft red glow of the darkroom.

For me there is even greater mystery is how two random kids growing up in Sioux Falls end up going to the same high school, debating on the same team, falling in love, marrying and then going on to share fortunate lives for 47 years. When a print is developed, you turn on the lights and you have a finished product. In a good and rich human relationship I don’t think that’s how it works. The relationship continues to develop and a marvelous mystery remains.

I can’t wait until tomorrow. I can’t wait for another year to unfold.

Honeywell Pentax SP500 (Exposure information unknown)