Working into the night...

So far this year is looking like a busy one!! Someone must think I need to stay out of trouble...

It is past midnight, so technically it is Sunday. Gage and Jason just now went to bed, and I have been working up a wedding photography quote. Working from home has it's advantages...but also disadvantages.

There is no such thing as leaving my work at the office because my home is my office. And since my business is still in it's childhood, I can't afford to set hours. I'll take the call at whatever time it comes. That being said, I really enjoy my photography. I try to keep it low key enough for me to enjoy what I do and still enjoy my family. However, I like to be busy with it. Being busy is what spurs my creativity.

I am excited to be commissioned to photograph two new babies this year - when they arrive! Babies are somewhat a new venture for me. Have had lots of children at the other end of my lens, but not very many tiny ones. Am so looking forward to those new, sleepy babes!

Sweet baby Reid www.gsalmonphotography.com

Of course, I schedule several weddings during the year. I have to say, weddings are my favorite. I like other sessions, but weddings are special. They always bring warm and fuzzy memories of my own wedding back to me.

Tonya and Josh - one of the last weddings I shot in 2011.

Such a sweet and generous couple.

www.gsalmonphotography.com

Weddings are like handmade items...even though there is a pattern, each item is different from the rest. I have shot weddings that made me want to marry my man all over again. I have shot weddings that left me staring in disbelief. I have shot weddings that have followed traditions I never heard of. I have shot weddings in the extreme heat and in the cold.

Andrew and Katie - a photo from the first wedding I shot 

as a gift to my husbands (and my) nephew and his wife. 

www.gsalmonphotography.com 

In the midst of all the craziness that surrounds a wedding day, I am usually very relaxed. Even though I have been known to run from the back to the front of the church, then back again to the balcony and choir loft, I still feel that I am in my element. I love to be part of the beginning of something wonderful and new.

 I was once part of something wonderful and new - and I have to say even though I was only the princess for the day, the golden band that was placed around my heart that night hasn't grown dim. Bring on the busy year - am happy to be part of it!

Josh and Linda...so sweet were the 

vows Josh promised to Linda's small son.

www.gsalmonphotography.com

The way things are now...

Had to go to the bank and the grocery today...the air was so cold and the bright sunshine hiding. Gage and I scurried and hurried in and out of the stores, then settled in for our drive home.

We drove home through Cecilia. Usually we go the other way...it is faster, but it isn't as scenic. Gage likes to look for tractors, and there are several farms on that route. The fields are now brown and muddy, farmers are feeding hay. We saw several cows, goats grazing and a few horses, too. Of course, that made Gage's day...to see the animals running in the crisp air.

We drove past where my maternal grandparent's lived. They didn't have a farm house, but a little square brick home.  It still looks nice and neat. But it has changed so much. No longer are there climbing rose bushes that grew on each end of the front porch. There isn't a porch swing rocking in the wind. Those green awnings are no longer over the windows. There isn't a fishing boat in the building. There isn't a Mamaw and Papaw there either.

On Sundays when I was growing up, it was the place we would go after church. All mom's family would gather there. I remember my mom, Mamaw and aunts cooking and the men talking in the living room - or sleeping on those vinyl couches. We kids would play in the basement and fight over the GRIT newspaper. Downstairs, Mamaw had a box of old hats that thrilled me. There were also pictures. Lots of pictures; on the walls and in boxes. I loved looking through them and wish I had just a few of to remember the family by.

Mamaw had a tin breadbox that always had sandwich creme cookies and suckers. We kids knew we didn't have to ask for some, just help ourselves. My cousins were all older than I - their lives always going in another direction. I haven't stayed close with any of them. Life happened. Pettiness raised it's ugly head and instead of enjoying each other's company, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews forgot the love that once knit us all together. Mamaw and Papaw would be sad to know their family isn't what it once was. I miss days of hearing my mom and aunts wiping tears of laughter as they recalled silly events.

I guess that's the reason I let things slide since I have become an adult. I don't nurse hard feelings. I don't give jealousy and envy a parking spot in my heart. There is no such thing as a "big I" and a "little you" in my life. I can agree to disagree. I let hard feelings go and even though I can't forget because I am human, I can forgive. I will be your friend, your family until you tell me not to be.

Gage has cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. I am teaching him to love them. Unconditionally. No matter what. Teaching him that we all have bad days that need to be overlooked. Teaching him that we will have differences and be different, but that doesn't mean that we are better off without them. Teaching him that there is no such thing as harboring ill feelings and angry thoughts - they are poisons that will eventually make hearts hard and ugly. We need our extended families. They teach us to be tolerant, to understand, to realize we are all different, but we can still have love. We can still have each other's hearts. The world is too big to not have our families in our corner of the ring.

I don't want to go back to the way things used to be. I want things to be the way they are now. Looking at life through they eyes of a 6 year old boy. I am thankful Gage is full of love and full of sauce. I am thankful he is taking my advice and is learning to love, tolerate and respect, yet be his own individual. I am thankful God gave me a soft heart to give to my son. And I thankful to know that even though I am way far from perfect, that I have been blessed with love. For that is the greatest commandment of all, that we love one another.  
Mark 12:31
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

 John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Beagles, Boys and (maybe) Rabbits...

Those are my guys...in deep discussion...waiting for their Beagle puppies to catch up.

It was Sunday evening, and the sun was disappearing, the wind was picking up and the coolness was coming back for nightfall. Jason and Gage turned out their puppies and took them for a walk. I watched them through the window for a while, then grabbed my camera and walked out join them. 

If you know me well, you know that I am not the outdoorsy type. Considering I was raised on the farm, fed enough bottle calves and milked enough cows to last me the rest of my life, then raked hay until I turned crispy...one would think that I love being outside in the sunshine, but I don't.

I used to go deer hunting with Jason. In fact, I went two years with him and carried my own gun. I shot at and missed a buck. But that happened back when we were dating. A girl will about go anywhere to please a good looking blue-eyed guy. However, when we married I started our nest. And I am quite happy feathering and rearranging the sticks and twigs in our nesting box.

I go outside to play with Gage, to observe Jason and Gage running through the weeds with their dogs, to watch them target shoot with their bows, to feed and water their dogs while they are gone...but I'll leave the outside territory to them. Their Sunday evenings are spent with nature, and all the wonders thereof.

My Sunday evenings are spent watching them. And reading the Sunday newspaper after dinner. What wonderful family time I have and share with a man, a boy and two little Beagles.

Better than Cake...

"Mom, you are better than cake."

Coming from my child, that is a huge compliment!! He loves cake. In fact, we are making cookies (his second favorite food) and since I am letting him run the mixer, measure the flour and break the eggs, he is one happy little person.

Tomorrow he will be back at school. But for now, we are making cookies and he loves me more than cake.

Move those little tractors and matchbox cars...make room while I dance a jig.

Sometimes being a mom is the hardest job I have ever tackled. And I've had some tough jobs.

I do believe that anyone who tells me that motherhood is the most rewarding job in the world is telling me the complete truth.

I do believe that anyone who tells me that motherhood is the best thing is the whole world is being completely honest.

I do believe that anyone who tells me that I'll never regret giving up my life to mold another little human into existence is completely right.

I do believe that anyone who tells me that motherhood will be the most rewarding and satisfying experience is full of wisdom.

I do believe that anyone who tells me that motherhood is easy...a tip-toe trip through the tulips...is an evil liar.

No one told me while I was riding the high of being a sick pregnant woman, that I wouldn't know what it was to go to the bathroom by myself for the next several years.

No one told me that I wouldn't have a good night's sleep for years.

No one told me that I'd live on caffeine for so many days that being nervous as a tortured cat would be a normal feeling.

No one told me that I'd call car seat manufacturers bad names when I was wrestling that contraption into the truck and bumped my head on the door not once, not twice, but three times.

No one told me that my house would be a constant wreck.

No one told me that I would go to Wal Mart with my greasy hair and flip-flops and just be glad I had the presence of mind to get back home once I got there.

No one told me that I would have to teach this small person that we don't say certain words...especially at the table, in front of Granny, and heaven forbid...not at church!

No one told me that I would be so proud when my son finally potty trained that I would tell complete strangers.

No one told me that I would being sad yet relieved when my son went to school.

But most of all, no one told me that being a mom is better than cake.
Yep, I'll have to agree.
What a wonderful feeling to be better than cake!!