throw your head back and laugh.

I'm participating in a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to elicit reflections on 2010, and hopes for 2011. You can find out more about it here. I am challenging myself to respond to each prompt in 15 minutes or less.

Today's challenge: Photo – a present to yourself. Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.

Throw your head back and laugh.

There have been many times in my life–and still now, though less often–when I don't step forward to play, to follow my impulse, for fear of ridicule or rejection.

This photo was taken by my friend Peggy Ludwick during my visit to Yakima, Washington, to support the opening of a Hospice Center there. Having spoken to an audience of people who had lost a loved one in the past year and their hospice caregivers, I watched and listened as a band of hospice nurses played wonderful music; I was enthralled with this large beautiful red bass.

I asked if I might join the band for a few moments, and Peggy captured the me I always want to be, the one where I throw my head back and laugh, where I don't worry about how I look or whether I'm doing it right. The me that jumps in and laughs and laughs with great joy in the community of a band, whatever band that might be at the moment.