Family Lifestyle Session

When I was 15 years old, I was chatting with some friends at my church youth group  one day when I noticed an older man watching me from across the room.  I was a tiny bit creeped out, until he walked over and introduced himself.  His name was Richard, and he and his family had just moved to Virginia.  He explained that he had a daughter my age, and she was very shy.  He noticed how extroverted I was (social butterfly that I am) and he basically recruited me to be friends with his daughter.  Catherine and I couldn’t possibly have been more different at that moment in our lives.  I was checking out boys while she was reading her bible.  I wanted to be at the mall, while she preferred to spend weekends watching a movie at home.  I was an only-child, she was the baby of 6!  You get the idea.

Somehow, despite all our differences, over time she became my dearest friend.  We grew up together, and have lived extremely parallel lives since.  We’ve worked together at 3 different companies.  We’ve  owned identical cars twice.  We’ve followed each other to live in 3 different parts of the state.  We both ended up in Dentistry despite her degree in History and my propensity toward all-things-creative.  We ended up married to guys that were roomates in college (in fact, she met her husband Eric for the first time at my rehearsal dinner, where she was a bridesmaid and he was a groomsman).  When she quit her job in 2007 to become a “Desperate Housewife”, I told her she was crazy for giving up all that income potential.  Then by some miraculous force, I followed suit a few months later.  All of this is why it was no surprise to me that when she got pregnant last year (after “trying” for a while), I found out a week later that I was too (even though we weren’t “trying”).  Surprise, surprise, we both had sons within 4 weeks of each other.  Apparently God, Himself decided that He wanted our sons to be as close as we are.

Words cannot describe how much I treasure my friendship with Catherine, which is why with the upcoming 1st birthdays of our babies, I offered (nay, insisted) to shoot their family and document this exciting time.  I started the shoot by catching little Joshua waking up from his nap, so I could catch him all sleepy and cuddly.

We then headed out to the park, despite the grey skies, to take advantage of that yummy autumn fresh air.

Those eyelashes?  Seriously!

And I saved the best for last.  Not exactly sure why I love it so much, probably because I know how badly Catherine has wanted to be a Mommy (basically since I met her at 15), and what an amazing and loving Mommy she is.

Happy Birthday Joshie-Bear.

Hugs,

~Jewels