Home is where the heart is
I often hear “my house isn’t that special or great”.
I challenge that.
It’s where you read to your babies; where your children have specially decorated their rooms to fit their personality; where you are building memories that will stick with their children into their adulthood.
As a kid I moved five times, from the East Coast to Texas to West Coast back to East Coast. In each home I have some abstract memories of childhood with a larger spattering of concrete memories as I grew older. Each home held its own special stories and memories- each of which was preserved in photos of our family taken at home.
It’s amazing how large my room seemed when I was five, only to look back at pictures and see it’s true size, along with the decorations that suited a young girl. My heart pulses a bit when I think back to the precious art work I hung on my walls in elementary school or the piles of books I read in high school. Each of these places and moments helped to build me into who I am today.
And now with my own children, they look back at photos in our first home and talk about their rooms and toys and what it was like. My heart gets pulled when I reflect back on photos of me rocking my children in their rooms. None of it is perfect, but neither is our life.
When this beautiful family booked me for their in-home session, it was right as their home went on the market and they prepared to move to out of state.
Want to talk about meaningful???
The pillow fights after school.
Moments in his crib with his paci and blankets.
Playing the piano in the front room.
The way each kid decorated their own room.
Playing with cars while dinner is being cooked.
Snuggling on the master bed where they spent hours hanging out and watching movies.
His sister reading to her little brother on a rocking chair where he was nursed and soothed, under models that his father built and painted.
Just an ordinary moment? Yes.
Special? Hell yes.
Don’t get in your own way when preserving just how kick ass your family and home are.