Photograph

Everyone should have a Robin in their life.

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Someone whose beauty radiates inside and out.

A women who is generous of spirit, and wickedly talented behind the lens.

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Robin makes you forget you are staring at a camera.

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She channels your inner joy. Her photos become a reflection of what you radiate.

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Not every photographer can do that.

So when my Wittenberg girls and I met for our fourth year of Labor Day celebrations with our families, I trusted Robin to capture the twenty years of friendship.

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She found the heart of a friendship that has been my rock.

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She found the light in each of us.

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The pictures tell the story.

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The photograph says it all.

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Thank you Robin for being in my life and telling our story.

http://allthesmallthings.format.com

5

Dear Ellery Jane,

Today you turn 5!!

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5 years blown bye in the blink of an eye.

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What a joy you are.

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What an amazing soul.

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How did I get so lucky to parent a child so secure in who she is? You are no doubt 100% your own person.

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You own your anger, your happiness and your tears. You tell it like it is and you are quick to move on and forgive.

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My hope for you is a year filled with celebration. Days filled with Ellie magic, the kind that comes from being the vibrant, engaging, charming, Ellery Jane.

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I promise to never stop singing you to sleep,

to love you unwaveringly,

to help you grow your faith in God

and to nurture your soul.

Thank you Ellery Jane for being my daughter.

Happiest of birthday’s my beautiful girl!

Love,

Your one and only Momma

PS-

You picked this year’s song and how perfect it is…

 

 

 

For the run

I run because:

I am vain. I love the way it makes my legs look in a skirt.

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I am cheap.  All I need are a pair of running shoes and an open road. When it’s that simple you find excuses to not work out are hard to come by.

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I am a loner. My world is full of people. I love that about my life, but I am at my core a loner. Running is communion with myself.

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I am Strong. I begin my day with a prayer.  Running is a daily reminder of how lucky I am to have this body as my own.

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This weekend will see me running the North Face Endurance Challenge 10k in Park City, UT. The race begins at 6,900 feet elevation and my highest elevation will top out somewhere around 7,700 feet.

https://www.thenorthface.com/get-outdoors/endurance-challenge/utah/course-guides.html

Typically I would characterize a 10k as “easy peasy”, but the elevation will make this run challenging.

The best part is that my Ellie girl will be there to cheer me on,

and that is really why I run.

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Days

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Adding the days and counting the years.

Pages are turned.

The statute of limitations has long since expired on my mourning period, but the dull ache remains.

I remind myself that this relationship was one that was designed for the goodbye. That his going and my staying on that dark October day almost eight years past, was supposed to occur.

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And in reality I don’t think I could imagine my life without that painful ending.

The loss has framed my existence.

If he were alive now and I were to have had those years back as his daughter- would I be the women and the mother I have become?

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So it is in these days when the winds change and the leaves begin to fall, that instead of focusing on all that was lost I must learn to be grateful for all that was gained.

 

 

 

Firsts and lasts

Wednesday was a big day at our house.

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Ellie started her final year of preschool. It was also her first day at The Childhood League Center (CLC).

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Way back in 2008 I called the education director of a school I had heard a whole lot about. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made as a momma.

I had done the “traditional” preschool thing with Sidney for a year (three mornings a week, for a few hours at our lovely church preschool) but I was looking for something different for Sid’s final year before Kindergarten. We fell in love with that place on our first visit and now seven years and three girls later, CLC will take on one last year with one of my girls.

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Ellie will have the same teacher as both of her sisters. She will sit in the same chairs.

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She will spend four days a week soaking up all of the goodness and love one can cram into seven hours a day. And she will have an experience that will form the foundation for not just her career as a student, but also the foundation for the kind of women she will grow to become.

In 2012 I was interviewed by Columbus Parent about our CLC experience (check out Audrey rocking her Hello Kitty dress).

http://www.columbusparent.com/content/stories/2012/04/NTK-age-playgroups.html

That place is magical.