My mom passed away from Lung cancer 9 years ago today. She was 58 years old. I miss her so much. I feel sad that she will never have the joy of knowing Trey, and that he will never have the joy of knowing her. Of course I share my memories of her, and I am sure that her spirit is smiling on him, but I still feel a deep sadness that she is no longer here with us in body.

I decided that each year on the anniversary of her passing, I will make a donation to a cause that addresses lung disease or cancer. A few days ago I saw that Deb Schwedhelm, a photographer I admire was participating in the  fight for air climb in Tampa.  I immediately knew this would be the cause I would donate to today.  Thank you Deb for participating in this cause! Please help Deb reach her goal of $500.

Each year I look at the few pictures I have of my mom. I cherish the pictures I have but I wish there were more photographs that captured what being together was like at each stage of my childhood. Pictures I could share with Trey and that he could share with his children.

This is why it is so important to me to capture as many details of Trey’s childhood as I can. Each year on his birthday I put together a book of pictures from the past year for him. We make a conscious effort to have pictures of each of us with Trey, and use our tripod to get some pictures of the three of us, yet there just aren’t enough pictures of us together as a family just being together.

Photographing families has deepened my appreciation for family photography. There is something so special about capturing the easy casual dynamic of a family just hanging out together. I love documenting these special moments and am often brought to tears when editing, because I am brought right back to the moments we shared during the session. The emotions are brought right back for me, and I imagine that they will be even stronger for the clients. I cherish this aspect of my job.

When I went to Deb’s blog to make my donation, there was a new post about what a beautiful gift family photography is, where she linked to another post called is there a perfect time? Both of these posts were so perfect for me to read today. They left me inspired and determined to have more  family pictures taken this year.

This is Trey’s last week of school. We are still trying to figure out what camps to sign up for. Busy season is in full swing so I definitely need to figure out the summer schedule asap.  In the meanwhile we will have a mini art camp here in my office:) Trey will stay pretty interested as long as I participate, so this morning I sat and did 10 minutes of art, then jumped on the computer to answer a few emails, 10 minutes of art, jumped in the shower, 10 minutes of art packed our picnic lunch, and so on. It worked great for 2 hrs:)

I wonder if I am the only parent who has a bit of a challenge transitioning from school schedule to summer schedule?