Family photographer + educator | Charlottesville, VA

 

September was for Walnut creek beach and kids taking algea-caked piggyback rides on cool uncles.

 

It was for mornings wandering the house by the light of the baby monitor and dry shampoo and too many layers of deodorant.

 

It was for the nightmare of navigating a car inspection drop off for 36 hours and learning that kids “classes” at 3 years old are joke.

 

September held our tears over new babysitters and preschool dropoffs and the little deaths required to pursue a creative life of meaning.

 

It was for glow balloons in the baby rocker.

For choosing to go back to sleep.

For pumpkin break and chocolate birthday cake and walks to the sound of crunching leaves.

 

 

 

People talk about morning pages like they unlock some portal of clarity. They're kindof right. 

 

But the point of them is to walk through a lot of dark alleys, first, and walking through those with yourself can be really messy.

 

Along with the practice of committing to morning pages, I simultaneously deleted instagram. The combination showed me that when you give your brain room to think for itself, a lot of stuff comes up. 

 

The voices you stifle from the outside can become a whole lunch table full of mean girls on the inside. They are very happy to fill the void and pick on your ability. 

 

They question your value in the world. 

 

 

 

 

I think the key is getting self-assured enough to know when to speak up and when to be quiet. 

 

 

We need the quiet to dig through our fears and our words and our voices. To sit with the mean girls at lunch for a bit and have empathy. 

 

But we can’t stay there… 

 

 

To tell us if our leggings are see through.

 

To share the books that maybe no one's heard of but are actually gold and lend us their underlined copy. 

 

To tell the mean girls to leave the table. 

 

 

If you follow me on Instagram, you might see me pop back on this week with a new energy and creating from a place of joy vs requirement. 

 

I'll also be trying out some other spaces of teaching and listening - talkin' to you private facebook group, free zoom-meeting style classes/workshops, and big ideas I've got growing out of the dirt. 

 

 

Session spots for fall are officially full but I have 3 spots left for December with some sweet potential for memory-capturing goodness. Please reach out if you're interested in making magic together! 

Did this letter hit home, make you think, laugh, 

or hug someone?