Beyond the edge of the world there’s a space where emptiness and substance neatly overlap, where past and future form a continuous endless loop.  Go there. –Haruki Murakami

For me, photographing On the Edge, coincides with a trip to a remote area in Sedona called, Edge of the World. My first impression is the same. It is always the same.  There is comfort and awe in this vast, untamed wilderness of Sedona’s rim.  

Our home-away-from-home, which often feels like a honeymoon suite, is a rooftop tent allowing us to choose our view. We wait for the changing horizon and the search for stars, planets and anything else nocturnal.

That’s it.

And at sunrise I walk the rim searching for light to come through the windowed arches we have sat in. I look for evidence of the javelina we heard the night prior, and I track the shadows… just because.   A few hot air balloons rise from Sedona’s open areas and I wonder if they watch us like we watch them. And do they bask in this profound connection with nature, or with thoughts of introspection and essence of who we are?

And does it matter?

Later, I am listening to my husband talk about all the canyons, summits, and arches we have rambled to. It was background noise as I sat on a nearby ledge. I am fascinated by the natural steps to the platforms below and I go there, chasing wildflowers.

Instead, I am reminded that there is so much more than being pretty.  The flowers, the weeds, the grass, and the trees are instrumental in the stability of this landscape.  

A purpose. With everything there is a purpose.

Meet me on the edge of this world where this road connects with that one, and where mountains root to land and understand there is something to be quietly said for just breathing and being.   – Victoria Erickson.   

Life is short, if you’re not living on the edge, you’re missing out…and he knows it.

Happy birthday to me.

Wind Kisses, Donna