April 30, 2010
Ok… so I have a soft spot for female athletes. I guess it comes from my own experience playing softball all through high school and college!
So here we have Miss Kaitlin! Basketball player who I can tell, you don’t want to mess with on the court! She has drive and she’s tough! That I can see in her photos!
But then… behind the uniform, there is this amazing and very tender and beautiful young woman
She was an absolute angel and pleasure to photograph!
THANK YOU KAITLIN!
ENJOY!
April 22, 2010
And how can I not bring you more of this amazing Senior! I had such a great time photographing Travis. He is completely charming, gorgeous, funny and silly and just plain ADORABLE!!
He is a strong young man of faith and conviction… mixed with a personality that is magnetic and alluring! Oh… and did I mention his eyes….
Travis… This was an honor! Thank you!
April 20, 2010
April 20th – My wedding anniversary. Today would have been 19 years for Peter & I …
I used think that we’ve been married for a long time. Now it seems like such a short time… a blip.
To be exact… Peter and I were married for 6705 days. That number includes 5 leap year days, and when you look at it in perspective of days… it’s just not that many! It doesn’t seem long at all!
I’ve thought long and hard about our days together. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I think about our time together and sometimes wonder… did we make the most of our days?
Does anybody ever truly make the most of the days you have been given? Or is it just so easy to allow human nature to run it’s course and often times not realize the true value in the gift of another day of life?
Today… I have been given another day to live. Another day to love. Another day to be thankful and to look at the sky and the earth and the sunset and think… WOW! I’ve been given another day to create, to dream, to hope, to imagine.
It is just so easy to take this for granted. But there is a time when our days come to an end.
You know… I have this slight obsession with clocks. They’re all over my home. Large beautiful clocks. I actually collect them and they can be such artistic pieces.
But what I have come to realize is that I am actually fascinated with time. I have always had this sense of trying to make the most of life. Of knowing that it is a relatively short journey when you compare it to eternity.
So I’ve always had a very strong sense of understanding that our days are numbered…
and as I have journeyed through the past 2 years, I have come to recognize that this life truly IS SO temporal… yet vital.
What we do here, the decisions we make, will effect our lives forever and ever. Each day is not only a gift… but actually a tiny burden of choice in a sense. A reflection of our decisions… both good or bad.
I think one of the reasons I love photography so much is because it is one of the only ways I know -that enables us to savor a moment. It is the one of the only ways to capture moments of time in a way that can be so beautiful, so powerful and so meaningful.
It is a way to celebrate our days… our emotions… our lives! Photos are the single most item people grab in the event of a fire…. Why???? Because somehow, we capture the beauty of life in a moment and we connect and feel the value of our lives through it.
My husband lived his life for 17,974 days. Then his days came to an end. And if you attended his funeral services at all, you would have recognized that his days were well spent. They had deep meaning.
He blessed the lives of so many other people through his profession as a Chiropractor… as a Physical therapist. He has forever profoundly influenced my children and their hearts as an amazing example of walking through one of life’s greatest challenges with faith, dignity and a selflessness that is uncommon. He has affected so many lives as a man of faith who was not afraid to speak of the love of Jesus to others. He was not afraid to ask others if he could pray for them. He was not afraid to bow down on his knees during worship at a church service to honor and thank his God for life.
Most of my husband’s days were spent helping others…
I’d say that is certainly a life well lived…. days well spent.
I got to share 6705 of his 17,974 days with him. Some days were AMAZING… some were ordinary, and some days were simply not easy at all. Let’s be real. Marriage is a vow… for a reason. But those 6705 days were spent living out, as best we could, our promise to each other. And for that… I celebrate that Peter and I – each day – continued to say… I do.
I imagine the moment I get to heaven every single day!! I imagine the embrace I will feel not only form the Lord… but from Peter. It brings me to tears every time I think of it. This moment that is coming…. someday. When I open my eyes and see his face again… and I am held in those BIG beautiful Lithuanian arms of his and I hear the words… “Hey Baby!”
As I continue to live out MY days… this is the moment I look forward to…more than anything!
So for this day…. April 20, 2010 – I want to remember the day we said I do.
Okay, seriously Pati! That last one made me stop and have an OMG moment! I mean wow! OMGosh girl! : )!!! Talk about stopping power, I love that pic! I so want to know how you made those burnt/rough edges. I love the vibrancy and the tonal quality of the photo and I love that natural pose you caught. Thumbs up Pati! Great job! : ) Actually, super great job on ALL your photos! This last one just really jumped out at me though for some reason. It reminds me of one of those pics that you’d see in a professional photography magazine. I <3 it!