niece, sister, friend...

kelly, senior portraits, canon digital rebel xti

After taking her senior portrait, we just played in the sun, sand and waves...







I think some of you know this but I have been an aunt since I was 10 years old. So, I suppose I have in a way grown up with my nieces and nephews (I have 5 all together).

I think because I was so young, they've always seen me as a friend more than anything, which is what I want, what I love about our relationships.

The past four days with Kelly was like hanging out with a girlfriend. Especially because she is such an old soul. All the elements of our relationship surfaced; friend, aunt, sister, daughter, mother... flowing into one another comfortably and gracefully.

She's very sensitive and intuitive, picking up on whether or not I want/need to talk about something and never pressing the issue. We did that for one another. She also sees the bigger picture of everyone and everything in her life, rarely taking things personally which is so difficult to do. It took me until my late twenties to figure that out. She gets it at 17. If someone hurts or offends her, she always seeks and understands what led that person to this particular behavior. Knowing its rarely about her but mostly about their wounded heart. Brilliant, I tell you.

She fit into our everyday life like a glove. She's so curious about health and nutrition (studying to be a nurse), so never once judged our interesting diets or neurosis about food and how they make us feel. She joined us with fresh veggie juice first thing in the morning and snacking on goji berries during the day. She actually had me write everything down so she could begin her own conscious way of eating.

It's so fun to share your wisdom with someone who is hungry for it. It's so heart warming to share your love with someone who embraces it wholeheartedly. It's so refreshing to share your humor with someone who gets it.

One time, her and I were sitting on the bathroom floor, putting our make-up on and curling our hair, looking into the various mirrors I have leaning up against the wall. I made sure I put the mirror in front of her that she was admiring when she first arrived. When I did this, she looked over at me and said..."you're going to be such an amazing mother...you are."

I smiled, gulped back my tears and grabbed one of her cool eye shadows to try.


kelly & me canon digital rebel xti