Love More (Sharon Van Etten Cover) – Bon Iver

I found myself sitting at a pond in Greenville, North Carolina. This song ringing through my headphones, camera wrapped around my neck and a head full of curiosity. The eastern portion of North Carolina is one of flat lands, empty two lane highways and peaceful solitude. After my dental school interview I googled the nearest park and headed into the unknown.  I walked around the park before venturing to the pond, eventually coming upon it’s tranquility. I found an  elderly African American couple fishing. They carried about seven or eight rods and I could tell they had spent their day under the blazing sun.

Fading Waterways

Empty Vessels

Chained to the wall

My favorite subject was this woman, her presence demanded my attention. I could sense so much power and resilience in her bones. She sat motionless, staring at the countless ripples as she waited for the fish to come. They never did, but she still stayed. Maybe that’s what we should do, stay even if it yields no rewards. Or do we stay because its’s all that we know how to do?

Sometimes you have to go where you’ve never gone before; to be driven into the dark. Other times you follow the same path you’ve taken for years and rest in comfortability. It’s intriguing how my exploration and their expectations intersected at the edge of a pond. Proof that all paths of life will bring something new, even if its in the same place you’ve always been.