Sunshine

 

My heart trembles when I see this picture. Divine proof that children hold secrets of heaven, and peace. I spent the morning watching these kids intently. Full of life and laughter. We sat in a field full of dried cheat grass, and I asked this little girl to hold her brothers hand. I watched her sit by the baby and grab his hand. In slow motion, she took his tiny fingers and held them to her face. The same way I did with my babies, a million times. Her busy face went still, and she took a deep breath. Breathing in what seemed like heaven. The whole world was quiet, while this little girl showed me a glimpse of light.

Open Ended

The physical act of getting married is a tedious, detailed, and messy political shindig. It requires time and energy that builds up to a climactic event that is really only visible to those watching the event take place and fantasizing some over dramatic fairy tale.
The emotional act of getting married is a process that begins from the moment two people meet. It is a build up of trust, faith, and emotion that results in a promise.  A promise made between two people to love each other forever. Forever. There just isn't anything more open ended and full than that. Readiness is a privileged that is simply not granted, there is no time like the present. Marriage is a beautiful event that does not happen on a certain day, in certain weather conditions, wearing beautiful clothes. It is, however, most definitely an achievement worth celebrating. Drink it up kids. Relish in the time you get to spend falling in love over and over again every day. You will stand next to your best friend for the rest of your life.  Never forget the crazy in love you feel today, and do your best to replicate it as often as possible. Never let the details get in the way of the purpose.

Forever

Nothing compares to tiny hands and tiny arms wrapped around your neck on a warm summer day. As parents we often think the act of holding a child is something we do for them. But every time you hug a child, God gives you a gift. And more times than not, our children hold us. A pure form of light, hope, love and wonder. We are all left to watch in aspiration of a beautiful way of life. Get there. Live there. Be child like. The act of holding a child or an adult in an attempt to comfort them, will result in comfort of yourself. Broken hearts sympathize with those that resemble their own. In helping those hearts heal, ours do the same.

Button

Oh little girl, never ever change.....except your attitude.....just a little.

Dear Baby Bentli,
Always chase butterflies. Never fear what you don't know, look ahead in anticipation, and love every second of this beautiful life.
Love always and always,
Ree

Home

Home. I have spent months waiting for this warmth. I have spent years looking for this peace. A quiet fireworks show speckles the ground with anticipation for the next breeze to show the beginning of some other beginnings end. Drift. It really comes down to the ability to drift. Away. From thoughts, misconceptions, anger, hurt, just drift away. Hope. When you land, you will find roots, find strength, find. Home. The strength begins at the roots. We all start here, small, complacent, adrift. Find soil, dig in your toes. Time passes without warning, growth occurs and deep wrinkles signify a life seen through unique perspective, and weathered by tears of the sun. Let them be. Get to where there is no need to drift, but only to lay quietly and listen to the breeze rustle the spring's new leaves.
Where you can be, untainted, uncolored, unafraid. Home.

Nature's First Green is Gold

I remember throughout my childhood my mom, and other wise individuals, saying to me "You'll understand when you are older." My entire youth I spent trying to speed up time, to get to a place where I felt I had reached my potential as an adult, and could live freely. I wasted an endless amount of time trying to be older than I was, creating pretenses to live by, and aspire to. Sadly enough, I'm older now, and I understand. When I sit back, and watch my kids grow, I feel like I'm grasping at air, gripping aimlessly at something that is slipping by faster than I can open and close the shutter. But time rolls on, and I find myself standing in the middle of a spinning world that simply won't hold still. I've come to accept the fact that my kids will grow up, they will leave, and I'll be left with the memories we created, of the time we spent. 
My babies  teach me everyday how to live and appreciate what often goes unseen.
I hesitate to think that the best time in my life will be retrospective, as described by the term "golden years". The actual golden age  is encompassed in these pictures. The real money shot is right here, and right now; letting the long grass tickle your face, soak you with dew, and cover you with the fresh sent of spring time.



Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost