After reading this I realize I don’t really think much about the past in terms of happy or sad times, nor do I find myself wanting to go back. I definitely agree though that happy and sad times balance out, though when I’m going through the sad times it doesn’t seem like it.
That’s a great photo, by the way. I’ve always liked scenes like that, with light shining down from the heavens. It really complements what you’ve written here.
I was lucky to get that photo. It was during my time in the Navy, and I was attending a school in San Francisco at the time. So my wife and children came up at the end of the week for a short visit to the Bay Area. We had just arrived at the Muir Woods park when a movie crew set off some smoke bombs to accentuate a scene that they were shooting, and so I took advantage of it myself. That remains one of the favorite pictures that I've taken.