Misaligned
Sunset on Loewen Boulevard.
Grid roads are rather unique to the prairie provinces. Travel the east and the roads follow geographical features like rivers or shorelines. The colonization of the prairie provinces saw surveyors arriving before the settlers, and with them a system of cutting up the land into neat and tidy squares. The imperial measurement standard meant that the land was divided up in a mile by mile sections. When I was a service technician this system made it relatively easy to find the farmer’s yard that was needing the repair.
Another great feature is that the roads that were created from these grids run due east and west and north and south. As a result, it is at the time of the equinox when the sun rises and sets right along the direction of the roads. Steinbach, having been developed originally within a section of land, has a few key roads that run east and west.
This year as the spring equinox approached I decided that I wanted to get a picture of the sun setting down Loewen Boulevard. The grid road that is now Loewen Boulevard extends east to incorporate Highway 52. I wanted a picture of the sun poised as a glowing ball over the stretch of road.
Monday was the equinox. It was overcast so no photo.
Tuesday it was cloudy. No photo
Wednesday, I had a meeting that carried on over sunset. No photo.
Thursday evening I set out with 30 minutes left before sunset only to get the photo that is picture here. As you can tell, by Thursday the path of sun had tracked so far north that it was fully off the roadway. I’d have to settle with what I got and try again in six months. The good news is that I have two tries a year to get the photo that I want. So I’ll set a reminder for September 22nd at 7pm to head out and see if I can get the shot I want.
Photography keeps on reminding me of an important life-lesson; that despite my meticulous planning and enthusiastic desire, sometimes the circumstances mean I’ll be disappointed and will have to try again another time. My disappointment can lead to frustration and defeat, or I can use the disappointment to understand the significance of the challenge and recommit to trying to achieve this goal in fall.
Too often we interpret our circumstances as a personal indictment to our character. Without spelling it out we think, “if things are going right—it must be because I don’t deserve it.” Perhaps in our desire to understand that all things happen for a higher purpose, we interpret the misalignment of our circumstances to mean that we are somehow faulty.
Throw out the false self-indicting narrative and embrace that some things worth pursuing are challenging and rather than letting a set back defeat us, harness the will and purpose to try again.
You got this.
