Eighteen

You get me. You just do and always have. For 18 years I've had the good fortune of being your mother and learning from your calm, understanding and wisdom. This mix of excitement and bitter-sweetness seems to find me every year on your birthday, but this year feels different. Is it your newly designated adulthood? Or maybe it's because I'm already missing you, or missing what was. 

At this moment, nothing is certain and the coming months will bring many changes for you and for our family. I'm counting on you to manage it well and light the way - thoughtfully, and with a sense of ease. While there have been ups and downs throughout your early years, you have always believed that things will get better. And they do. You make it so. 

Jonah, you shimmer with possibility. As for me, I just like to stand by and capture a bit of your glow. Wishing you happiness today and every day. I love you.

Super Sweet

For sixteen years I've been blessed by this guy's super sweetness. My love for
him runs deep, beyond reason. Happiest of birthdays, dear Zac. Soak it in.

#neveragain

March for Our Lives, White Plains, NY March 24, 2018

The Edge

You are focused and driven, always on your way. At the same time, you can be present and calm, a real-life problem solver. I know this isn't easy to manage when a new Snap comes in every other second. I'm not ready to call you an adult but somehow I feel safe. I'm poised with you here, on a glistening edge. This is seventeen. Happiest of Birthdays, my love.

reSisters

 Women's March, New York City, January 20, 2018.

Our Everyday

I was recently asked if the experience of photographing my family has taught me something about them that I otherwise couldn't see or get close to. While I've learned a lot about my immediate family through photography I would say that the experience has taught me to slow down and be present. Holding a camera to my eye forces me to be astutely aware of our daily happenings, to seek meaning in everything from the mundane to the incredible. In these moments, distractions fall away. Focus. Breathe. Repeat.

I feel very strongly about the importance of documenting the everyday. While photography cannot stop time, our pictures become our memories. The everyday is everything, and frankly, it’s all we have. 

Today I'm thinking about another sunless and unremarkable day 15 years ago when I met my second child. I nearly mistook my stomach pains for something other than labor. He surprised me by arriving three weeks early. Although he still surprises me with his wit and charm on a daily basis it may have been the last time he arrived early for anything. It's okay. I'll wait for him. He is everything.

Happy 15th Birthday, dear Zac.

Go Seek

Destination: LOVE

I See You

He’s fourteen and knows what he likes. A warm pile of laundry. A remote control car. His iPhone. Carbs.

Happy Birthday to the guy who instinctively knows how to get under my skin and can force me to smile, even when I least feel like doing so. In this rather bleak month, your silly sweetness and supersized hugs are needed more than ever. I promise to welcome whatever random bits of joy (and chaos) you can throw my way. For you, my heart is wide open.

Islanders