Part way through the week, I started to notice an interesting side effect of spending so much time with with the same people for this allotted time. I like to think that I know these particular friends quite well. I have know some of them for going on 15 years. I know many of their likes and interests. But in this week, I began to see them a bit differently.
How do I explain this properly? I think each one of us has a passion. Q's is architecture. He can look at a building over and over again for hours and not get bored. He notices each detail (the beautiful and the flawed), explores the possibilities of what it is and what it could be, and never seems to tire of it. He could spend each and every day examining buildings, seeing the beauty in them that most people never take notice of. I know this by the way his entire physical body changes when he sees a particularly interesting work of architecture. His eyes truly do light up and it's almost as if all his senses become more acute. Years of seeing this change in him when we happen upon a building of interest has helped me recognize the signs of this type of passion in others. After a while I clued in that whenever this happened, I needed to relax, sit back and enjoy the setting as Q pulled out the camera and took as many pictures as humanly possible.
I became aware of some of these "passions" in my fellow travelers this week. The passions became especially evident in the men of our group. Perhaps because I am more familiar with the women, seeing and talking with them on a more intimate way in our everyday lives, I was more struck when I noticed them in the men.
I first became aware of one of Ty's passions when the search for the perfect wave began, but I didn't fully comprehend why a wave would be so interesting until we happened upon a beach that had several surfers. Now don't get me wrong, I already knew the reason Ty was looking for the right surf conditions was because he was a surfer himself and was looking for a place where he could join in this action, but what I didn't realize was that it was a passion. Not just the surfing itself, but the conditions of the ocean, the size and force of the waves was equally interesting to him. But when we sat on the beach and the rest of us pulled out a book to read, Ty and R did not. Their physique changed the same way Q's does. And then out came the camera, and unlike the rest of us that snapped a couple pictures, they continued to do what always happens when passion and person meet; the camera did not get put away, but remained in use until it was time to leave. I imagine if this was back when we still used 35mm film, that many rolls would have been consumed.
It was on a drive along the highway that clued me into the fact that TC is every bit as much an engineer as Q is an architect. Again, I already knew TC was an engineer. I already knew he could talk about building roads until the sun went down, but it didn't become evident as a passion, until I saw the camera come out as we passed a stretch of highway that was being constructed. Had we deemed it a "Point Of Interest" I am certain more pictures would have been taken, and every bit of it analyzed. But it seems TC has more than one passion. As we hiked along the Napali Coast, paddled up the Wailua River and looked on the Wiamea Canyon, I could see the physical changes happen to him as well. The beauty of the nature around him, changed his demeanor. Words like "incredible", "amazing", "magnificent" and "unbelievable" flowed freely from his lips. At every possible moment, the camera appeared, and sadness consumed his eyes when he realized he had finally run the battery too low to take any more pictures.
There were others that I noticed, but the reaction to each was the same. It makes me reflect on what I am passionate about. Am I passionate enough? Do I give into the pleasures of being consumed by the beauty of my passions often enough? Would I be more passionate about other aspects of my life if I let myself fully enjoy the things I love most?
Q often tells me he thinks other people think he is a nerd for liking architecture so much. But I think it is beautiful to know what your passion is and to make it part of your everyday life. Passions, like talents, should not be hidden under a bushel, and we should not be ashamed of the passions that help define who we are.
