On White Sands and ends

Photograph: Air Force Contrail Over White Sands National Monument, Sunset, Alamogordo, New Mexico

Can one be elated and melancholy at the same time? Last week I turned in the photographs and manuscript for my upcoming book on White Sands National Monument for the University of New Mexico Press. While I am elated that we have started down the road to publication—editing, design and what not—I am a little saddened that my work at White Sands has come to an end. I will miss those incredible dunes that are as white as snow and the people I met there who are incredible too. I know that my muse will tempt me soon to point my camera at something else, however I will miss White Sands as it truly felt like home.

As I think about things ending, I chuckle when I remember something that author Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) wrote in his book, “The End.” “The end of THE END is the best place to begin THE END, because if you read THE END from the beginning of the beginning of THE END to the end of the end of THE END, you will arrive at the end.”

And so there you have it. We have arrived at THE END of this missive.