One afternoon last week, I planned a spur-of-the-moment shoot for a real estate gal pal, Rebecca Jaffe of First National Realty. She has recently changed companies, so she wanted some updated photos of herself with her new FOR SALE sign. Originally this was all supposed to happen a week or so later, but the weather was perfect, I had nowhere to be, so she told me to come on out to her home and we'd do it. I have to say, I fell in love with her home - the land, the area it's in, it was just peaceful all around. So her border collies greeted me, Rebecca and I chatted (we could really go on forever, lol), and I took a few shots of her.
Then, lo and behold, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that really struck my interest. Lately I have been on this kick of photographing old stuff, particularly anything old and decaying. Well, there it was, right before my eyes, an old bus, overgrown with vines, overcome with rust. The hood was left open, almost as if whomever tried to get it going one last time just gave up and left it to the mercy of the elements. Upon closer inspection, this wasn't just a bus - it was a CHURCH bus. Without further ado, here's a slide of the photos, but then there's more to the story....oh yes, there's more.
Well that night, I posted these photos on Facebook. A former high school classmate, Sean, happened upon the photos, and was pretty weirded out. I mean I knew there was something...just some connection I felt with this bus somehow, almost a level of sadness I am unable to desbribe. But after hearing his story, it all came full-circle for me. He absolutely had to know where this bus is so he could pay it a visit. He went on to say that his parents drove the Joy Bus for the Church of Christ when his mother was pregnant with him...he was a fetus on that bus! His father passed away several years ago. There were little lives touched over the years through the ministry of his parents driving that bus. Although it sits there to continue to rust away, the sun shone through, and once again, I felt and saw HOPE in the midst of ruin.