I recently returned home from spending Christmas in California with our family. Over the course of the week that we were there, so many of them asked, "How's the photography?"
Poor family. They likely hadn't bargained for the earful I'd soon give them.
There's just no easy way to describe this year, its been amazing to say the least. I look back at the files on my computer with fond memories of everything that we've celebrated this year. Beautiful couples joining together in marriage, new parents welcoming longed-for babies, talented high school seniors ready to enter the world, and families cherishing the children that seem to grow up all too quickly.
You see, these people aren't clients, they are friends. Some of these friends I have known for the past two years, some I met just last week but feel like I've known them forever.
When I tried my hand at photography as a weekend hobby two years ago, I knew exactly what I would set out to do. I would take and edit pictures. What I didn't know, nor could ever imagine, was the amazing relationships that would come from doing just that.
I came in the door a few days ago, and took off my cowboy boots, bought after two trips to a small town 4 hours east of Portland to shoot two weddings there this summer. "I have to fit in," I reasoned to my husband, "if I ever get to go back." I slid them off with a boot jack, graciously given to me by a family I photographed days before Christmas, after commenting how handy theirs was in getting my winter-wet boots off without hopping all over the place. I turned to put the boots away, and saw Christmas cards on my entry door, smiling as I recall circumstances of the days that we took those pictures. I then read an email that night, and yet another one of these friends had inquired about my husband's job situation after he was laid off this past summer.
Talk about blessed.
I couldn't even begin to give justice to what I've been privileged to do this year. Those poor relatives would get just a speckling of what I do, but will never know how much fun it was to dodge pouring rain, sweat away the afternoon with new parents in a steamy hot house while trying to get a stubborn newborn to sleep, and the lengths that we'd all go in trying to get a kiddo to give me a real smile. They might not know that I get goosebumps the moment wedding guests stand in unison, welcoming a bride down the aisle. Or that so many of these parents are role models for me, in how I strive to raise my own children. Or that just as they are, they stand some of the most incredible people I know.
I am forever thankful that you've allowed me to share in these moments with you. I often wonder what I've done to deserve the honors of being with you throughout this year. You've treated me like family and welcomed me into your homes, all of which I cherish more than you'll know.
Thank you for making this year so special...I wish you all a glorious, blessed 2011!
Ya'll know I can't wait to see you.
Take a look at the year here
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