I included this picture of Tony Robbins because just the sight of him helps me not want to write warm, touchy-feely, puppies-and-ice-cream kind of posts. I stay away from sentimental stuff not because I’m out of touch with my sensitive side (heck, we’re too good of friends), but because I get much more creative pleasure out of rants and sarcasm. And from the traffic stats I see on this blog, it seems my visitors like that better too.

However - and I’m hoping you can relate to this - once in a rare while I experience something or someone that makes me want to be a better insert-name-of-thing-here. Two examples: being around Aimee makes me want to be less selfish, and being around Brad Pitt makes me want to be better looking. (God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…)

This week I read Matt Logelin’s blog and got a twofer in the inspiration department. Matt’s someone I went to high school with, and I think no matter who you are you will find his story interesting. In a nutshell: his wife complained of dizziness after delivering their first baby, and she died minutes later. As I read through Matt’s blog every week, I’m captivated by his openness and honesty about his hopes/dreams/fears of that event, and how he is tackling life as a single dad. It makes me want to be a better father, and not take my family for granted. Unfortunately, I’m sure for most people (myself included) it takes actual loss to get proper perspective on life.

My second flicker of motivation came while sifting through the comments on Matt’s blog. A photographer named Gina Lee left a few notes, so I checked out her blog, which features a sample of her portfolio. Now I’m a wannabe photographer who has taken a rare money shot from time to time, and certainly there’s no shortage of great photos and photographers that should motivate me to get off my butt and learn to take better pictures. But for some reason, Gina’s photos did that for me - especially the Ben’s family series. Now, maybe there’s a tiny factor that hits close to home - the kid in the Superman shirt reminds me of my childhood, and also makes me think I’ll definitely torture Cam with some more posed Superman shots as he gets older. But Gina’s work is really marvelous, and I encourage you to check it out.

On the subject of photography, I’d really like to force myself to upload a picture of the week just to give myself an excuse to become a better photographer. I won’t commit to that yet, but in the meantime, here’s my latest favorite pic. Aim snapped it on our way home from the zoo. Cam had gone into a big tired/yawn stretch and then fallen asleep before he put his arms back down.