Fall Walkin'

This time of year is filled with exciting football games and outdoor activities. It's a time that smells of spiced apple cider-served hot with a splash of caramel-and the deep scent of campfire on your clothes. It feels like a cool breeze against your skin as your eyes take in its raw and natural beauty. Its the moment you first notice the leaves changing into shades of bright reds, yellows and oranges that you realize it is already upon you, circling in and ushering you towards winter. The sound that now fills your ears is the sound of fallen leaves crunching beneath your feet as you go out for a jog on a calm and cool evening. All of your senses are alive welcoming in the freshness of the world that now surrounds you.

Fall is beautiful.

And so is my family.

Family Picture!
Back view...this one is my favorite.
The littlest Dolphins fan
Stealing Grandpa's hat.
Best Friends.

They Were Holding Hands

They were standing calmly and listening intently when I saw them. Directly in front of me, their tired backs faced in my direction. Immediately after I noticed them, he quietly decided to sit and rest his tired aged legs while the rest of the crowd remained standing. At his side, his wife too remained standing as she looked down with concerned eyes communicating with him without using a single word. He glanced up and slightly tilted his head letting her know that he was just fine. Sweetly, she smiled back at him as he slowly reached up to hold her hand in his.

They were holding hands. I watched the scene unfold in only a few short seconds and felt a smile creep across my face. It was a beautiful moment filled with the kind of love I'm guessing you can never fully grasp until you've spent decades of your life with the same person by your side. Their love is a kind of love that is unconditional and incredibly strong after weathering life's storms together and taking on each blind turn, each new challenge, side by side. It is also a pure love; unique in a refined simplicity after having aged well over time. Now, probably well into their 80's, they still share the simple moments that marked their love from the beginning: a simple smile and the soft touch of holding hands.

These complete strangers brightened my life today as I witnessed their moment of raw intimacy and simple love.

And because a post is always better with a picture, here are a few pictures from my recent trip up north with my family:

Boater Boy!

Look of intensity

Captain of the boat waving to his friends

Clapping!

Hanging out with his Grandpa!

I hope that you find moments everyday that make you happy. Simple moments that can bring a certain untouched joy to your life through witnessing the interactions of others. I hope that you find simple moments of beauty.

The Measure of My Life

I could measure my life in goodbyes.

There was the time I said goodbye to America and headed for a summer of helping orphans in Romania. Then, a few months later, I turned around and said goodbye to the amazing friends I had made there along with all of the children I could barely stand to leave behind. It was a tearful goodbye; the kind of goodbye that is clouded with the uncertainty of whether or not your lives will ever cross paths again. Fast forward one year and I was saying goodbye to Michigan and hello to New York where I would experience my first "big girl" job while crossing paths with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Lucky for me, many of those people are still some of my closest friends no matter how scattered around the globe they may be. Much like Romania, though, New York lead to another goodbye. It was goodbye to adventures, familiar faces, and some of my favorite memories as we all headed off to different places to finish our educations. Three months later I was saying goodbye to college, goodbye to family and friends, and a final goodbye to my childhood home as I headed off for the "real world" and began my new independent adult life in Ohio. Since then I've said goodbye to one job, my first place on my own, and the idea that money can buy you happiness.

From one adventure, one place, to the next, it often feels that this string of goodbyes would be the most accurate markings of where I have been and what I have experienced in my life. More importantly, the lengthy string of goodbyes would depict all of the people that I have had to say goodbye to and the ways in which they have enriched my life in so many ways.

Goodbye isn't a word I like much. But it's better to have said goodbye then to never have had met those that I must eventually say goodbye to at all. Recently, goodbye has been looming in my life creating a dark shadow that slowly engulfed my being until tears flowed softly in steady, unwavering drips onto my favorite sweater.

Goodbye is never easy. In the past few weeks alone I have said goodbye to Ben, Liz, and the companionship of summer sunshine. As always, fall slowly creeps in stealing the day to day excitement of warm weather and everyday friendships.

I'll miss summer terribly. Mostly, I'll miss these two faces brightening my every day.

So, with goodbye marking my life yet again, I've decided to take on some personal projects and fill my spare time with new experiences and personal accomplishments. What that looks like is assisting a prominent Cincinnati wedding photographer

(http://www.imagesbydanielmichael.com/) on weddings occasionally. For now I'm just assisting and not taking pictures but in a few months or so I'll be training to actually do photojournalism with the same photography studio to be a part of their wedding teams. Last Saturday was my first day on the job. While it was a completely new experience to be an outsider at someones wedding, it felt like such an honor to be a part of making someones special day something to remember. This wedding was a lot of fun and seeing the love that the couple shared with each other, as well as the love that all of those around them had for them, was something so beautiful that i couldn't help but take it all in. For me, this is a great learning experience and a chance to grow my photography skills in so many ways.

And, while we are on the exciting side of things, this past weekend I was able to participate in my first engagement photo shoot with my friend, and Dayton photographer, Adam

(http://www.adamalonzo.com/). This time I was actually taking my own pictures so I really enjoyed that and Adam is a really good teacher. Here are a few of my favorite shots that I took of the couple:

I am excited for these new photography opportunities and the chance to learn a ton from a couple of really talented photographers in the area.

I could measure my life in goodbyes as there there is a string of them that have lead me to each new place and each new experience in my life. What I'd rather do, though: I'd rather measure my life in love...the love that I see, the love that I experience, and the love that I share.

And one day, maybe one day, I'll no longer have to say goodbye.