Happy New year 2024!

And welcome to my first real blog post since my website was first published about a year ago.

Has anyone ever heard of the law of attraction? There’s no scientific evidence, but the law of attraction is a belief that you create your own destiny by believing. This can be either positive or negative. If you believe in your success, you’ll have more success. If you believe negatively, more negative things will likely happen.

I choose to be positive. Sometimes, this comes easily. Sometimes, it is work! I simply started by celebrating small successes and feeling extremely grateful for “the little things.”

When doubt creeps in, I look for the positive. If something doesn’t go according to plan, I reflect and decide whether I need to become more educated or if I simply need to adjust the plan. Perhaps God, who knows what’s best, is steering me in a different direction for a reason.

Every year for the past several years, my friend Lynne has booked me for a photoshoot the first week of November, for her granddaughter’s birthday. We plan for it well in advance, and every year it is different.

We have a lot of fun, both in the planning leading up to the photoshoot, and in the discussion during the photoshoot of what we will do next year.

This year, Lynne, discussed in advance, said she wanted it to be epic and inspirational because her granddaughter was turning 21. Lynne shared with me that she wanted to go to the beach in Yankeetown at sunset, and to the places where Elvis filmed the movie “Follow that Dream.” How perfect is that to inspire someone, a “follow that dream” photoshoot!

We met in Dunnellon and rode out together, playing the song as we drove west. We stopped for a few photos at the WGC Chamber of Commerce where they have an Elvis statue and some signs. Then we continued along the road until we arrived at the place where the beach scenes were filmed, where we took a few more photos. We got to the little beach right before sunset.

Lynne’s granddaughter, Max, was dressed in a vintage outfit, and even though the no-see-ums were fierce, we got some amazing photos that day.

But the incredibly amazing thing was how everything about that day had come full circle. The law of attraction had led me to that place. I had always been a Tom Petty fan, and I knew Tom Petty had been influenced by Elvis. Tom Petty had grown up in Gainesville, and had been on location in Ocala with his uncle during one of the days of the filming of “Follow that Dream.” The experience of that day is what Tom Petty credits as making him want to become a musician. A few weeks earlier, it had been my turn to present about my photography business in front of my business networking group. I like to really prepare for these presentations because they only happen a couple of times a year. The presentation is a great opportunity for the group to really get to know me.

This time my presentation was on October 19, which is my husband’s birthday, but also one day after my birthday and one day BEFORE Tom Petty’s birthday. When I was introduced, I had provided my friend with a short bio, and one thing I had him say about me was that I believed there is a Tom Petty song for every occasion. For the presentation, I included a slideshow of recent work and used “Running Down a Dream” as the backing music.

It was on the way back from our “follow that dream” photoshoot that I began to see that this year, being almost over, could be themed as my dream year. I was following my dreams, or was I running down a dream? Either way, now I wonder if Tom Petty wrote that song as his “follow that dream” song. It was no accident that I ended up on “Follow that Dream” Highway that day.

Thank you, Lynne, for your part in that.

This summer, I stumbled across a great documentary about Tom Petty. It’s free on YouTube. If you like him at all, and you haven’t seen it, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WblnLk387u0

Once again, Happy New Year everyone. Let’s make 2024 an opportunity for all of us to “Follow that Dream.”