A Fifty Year Legacy

CELEBRATING
Love and Lives Together

Here in the Northeast, we’re in the dog days of summer, and many of us are fortunate to be hanging out with friends and family. I’ve seen gatherings of people celebrating with each other, and a lot of wedding photographers assembling groups and getting candid shots of the bride and groom.

Then, just like that, years pass, families grow, and subsequent anniversaries and milestones begin to be recognized.

What are you celebrating this season?

Reflecting on monumental events and celebrating them is such a source of joy. You remember the moment you wanted your partner in your life forever, you remember the people who helped you make decisions that could last a lifetime, or on THE day, helped you decide what color suit you should wear, or maybe go casual with shorts and a shirt on the beach.

For me, some very good friends helped me have patience, talked me out of a break-up, and give my soon-to-be-fiancé a little more time to get over his frozen feet. (Turns out, patience really is a virtue, and yielded me a wonderful marriage and two kids).

For the couple I'd like to introduce you to, the magic that happened in front of a waterfall, cemented their lives together.

"Waterfalls have always been a thing with us - from when we first dated"

Mary Ellen and Pat knew they wanted to celebrate their 50th anniversary with something they would treasure, something that was important to them and their family, and provide a daily reminder of their commitment to one another. As I worked on their Custom Now & Then Image, from start to finish, their respect for one another and joy of their years together was obvious.

During our second call together, the importance of waterfalls became much more evident, and I knew that needed to become a subtle element in the background of the image I composed for them.

Pat said, "Our third date was at a waterfall in New Jersey,
and that's when I realized, 'I'm marrying her!'"

It's an unbelievable honor for me to sense, feel and witness such meaningful relationships and connection, when working on images like these. I'm so very lucky to get to do what I do and experience the joy between humans that love one another.

Pat and Mary Ellen, congratulations! Thank you for having faith in me and allowing me to help you celebrate your 50th anniversary.

Count yourself blessed if you're celebrating any milestone! And do it with gusto.

With cheers and gratitude,

“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.
All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

- Helen Keller

Choking Vines and New Growth

Ahhh, spring!

Warm air, earthy scents, and yup, true to form, a new metaphor from me delivered to you.

It's been about three years since I've done any pruning in my yard and I was excited to have a peek at what's out there. Was it overgrown? Yes. Do I care? No.

It was heavenly just to be out. Not worried about all the things. Breathing.

My tools were at the ready, anticipating plants popping up in new places, eyes peeled for growth I didn't want. To my dismay, the Asiatic Bittersweet vine was everywhere, fiercely choking out bushes and especially our flowering quince. 

Damn you! The sheers whipped out of my pocket and barrels began to fill with it's remains. Midway through my counter attack I realized that this is the way dementia felt to me.

The disease has slowly wrapped it's way around my husband and I, starting out innocent and undetected like the pretty new growth of the vine and eventually began choking the life out of each of us in different ways. The growth and progression has been parallel too. Three years of invasive vine winding, and three years since his diagnosis.

It's ironic the vine is calledBittersweet. It's another parallel since I find both joy in the moments and pain in the outcomes of dementia.

Now in a memory care community, my sweet husband is truly having the time of his life, making new friends, enjoying visits from old ones, and continually expressing his gratitude for the professional caregivers who love him. It has given me my life back and taken away the fear of injury for us both. Some of the vines choking me have been removed, and the ones gripping my husband, in a strange way have loosened their grip as his cognition and awareness disappears.

A few weeks ago, I went back to the Gingko tree (also spelled Ginkgo by the way) that inspired me to share our story. It was bursting with bright green buds and new life. It's a reminder that there will always be new life. For me and for Bill.

Without the daily stress of caring for my husband, I have time and space to be able to think creatively and get back to work in the studio with a renewed sense of purpose. Ideas are brimming and I'm excited to share the fruits of my labor as the work unfolds.

There are so many iterations in life, right? Ups, downs, ebbs, flows... Are you clearing away things that have constrained you? Hopeful for new life? You. Are. Not. Alone.

I'm so glad you're here with me, and I value your support of my creativity.

With gratitude,

Bittersweet’s innocent beginnings…

and destructive invasion

now banished to the trash barrel.

Gingko tree bursting with new growth

“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars.
You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.”