Okay, can any of you understand this?

Let's try, okay?

Here I am. I have nothing. No job, no assets, no savings. No money.

And guess what?

Do I care?

Nope.

I am doing what I love for the first time in 52 years. And each day I am out with my cameras, is a love the likes of which I cannot describe.

The smiles I have are bigger than any I have ever had.

I have met so many new friends. Wonderful people. There is fellowship among us.

Many have lost their jobs. Their marriages. Their lives. But we all get together. We laugh, from deep inside.

We revel in the shots we are able to get of the birds.

We talk with excitement of our most recent sightings and shots.

And we slowly forge bonds that are cemented deep within our souls.

The world around us tries to lay us low. But we will not relent. We WILL go out with our cameras. We will endure the bitter cold. And we will LOVE every minute of it.

So what if our life is crashing down around us?

So what if we have no money?

So what if we have no home of our own?

We have each other.

We have the birds.

We have the refuge.

And if we are to die standing there, camera in hand, we would be happy. We'd have met our end at a place and a time that we love.

And among friends.

Who understand.

The number of years we live does not matter.

It is better to perish now, doing what we love. Than to exist in misery for many more years, and end up in some nursing home, where they rob you blind, and you sit alone every day and night, unable to do anything at all.

When I die. I want to be among my photographer friends. Outside. Attempting to get that last great shot.

And I will die a happy man.

Even if I have not one dollar left to my name.