The Grass is Not Greener

We’ve all heard that saying again and again, the grass is always greener on the other side. It is not. See the awesome thing about my grass is that its MY grass. Lets face it, your grass would just not fit me right. The shade of green may not go with my eyes ; ) or it may be a little too long for my short stature to walk through.

When things aren’t going as smoothly as I wish them to be for me or my family, I don’t wish to be another me or another family. I  work for things to get better. I hear many other people, frustrated with a situation wishing they were like “so and so”, “since they have it easy”. I am not saying I have never done that in the past but once I came to the realization that everyone has a journey to travel, it has made my life easier. I am able to appreciate what I have. To appreciate the good, the bad and the ugly and grow from them. Perhaps that is something that comes with maturity and experience for many. I guess there are some who may never get it. I’ve met a few people like that and they are quite bitter. Knowing that that is not who I want to be or become I made a switch in my thinking years ago. So far it is working for me.

My grass is meant for me and as imperfect as it may be, its perfect for me.

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A Wonderful Day

I recently had the opportunity to do a photo shoot for a group of families who have kids on the spectrum. It was a service project for a local organization and I happily took the assignment. For years I have photographed children on the spectrum. Some assignments were easy, some not so easy. I was unsure how a whole day of shooting ten families would go.

The weather could not have been more perfect. A long winter had pushed back spring and the days before were not to nice. The morning of shoot, the sky was bright and the weather a perfect 74 degrees. A wonderful start!

Each family had a 20 minute time slot, with a 10 minutes buffer between the next client. As with many kids on the spectrum, it was not easy to get eye contact with the camera. But that was fine. I shot the kids as they wanted to be shot. Sitting on the steps, running through the fields. However they felt comfortable. I had a blast getting see each of them in their full freedom, being themselves.

What really stuck with me that day was the interaction between the child on the spectrum and their siblings. The love that bound them was endless. It was so evident, that my assistant for the day, my 15 year old daughter was also blown away with the compassion, empathy and love they have for their siblings. That day, I saw pure love and it was beautiful.

As exhausting as that day was and the weeks that followed editing so many photos, it was by far my favorite shoot. This is why I love this job!