Live in the Moment

I can’t remember where I read this but I recently came across someone talking about the need some people have to video everything that seems important. And, that by doing so, they may actually be losing the joy of the particular moment. You’ll see why I brought this up a little later.

We had almost perfect weather last night for our return trip to the symphony/fireworks. The crowd was substantially larger than Friday so we got there about 20 minutes before the gates opened and the lines to get in were growing so we took our place.

All was good until the skies briefly opened up. That had been the weather pattern all day. Brief periods of rain at random times and places. The good news is we had umbrellas and a tarp with us. The tarp was to put on the ground to keep our blankets dry but it did a good job of covering the stuff in the wagon so it stayed dry. Drier than us because we only had the travel size umbrellas which always leave gaps.

So I was barefoot for the concert hoping my socks would dry by the end. (This is the problem with mesh tennis shoes because the water goes right through) But that was the last rain we saw. The temperatures were in the low 80’s until the sun went down so, that even with the sun on you, it was still comfortable.

To finally get back to the point at the beginning, once the fireworks started, a number of people got out their phones to video the whole show.

I’ve watched videos of fireworks and they never truly capture the experience. Watching it live, the sky is briefly filled with color from each burst and you can feel the concussion from the explosions. When they get near the end and start launching them faster and faster and the flashes and booms start to run together. None of that can be captured on a tiny screen with the sound system of a phone.

Plus, if you are videoing, then part of your time is spent trying to make sure everything remains in frame. So your focus in on the phone and not the fireworks. The experience becomes secondary to getting a good video but the video is a pale copy of the real thing at best.

I understand the desire for video and photos. It helps with memories later on and the phone cameras certainly make it much easier to be able to do it. I just feel like there are limits and there are times when the best thing to do is just put the phone down and fully experience the moment.