Hammer Pants, High Tops and Family Photos

It’s T minus 48 hours to Tara Whitney’s arrival to photograph my crazy family and I’m a nervous wreck.  I’ve got clothes to buy, a house to clean, and kids to wrangle.

All of this fussing about got me thinking about our last family session that we had with my dear friend Michelle Ocampo.  Some of you may recall that our giant Ridgeback, Beazy, was diagnosed with bone caner last fall.  We were crushed.  When I called my Michelle to tell her about our sadness, she told me to pack up the car and get the family down to Carmel for a family photo session with her (this is big… she doesn’t normally photograph families as she works with high school senior girls.)  I was thrilled with her generous offer!

And then I started to panic about what we would wear.  

I spent nearly three weeks coordinating our clothing and it was totally worth it.  I distinctly remember that satisfying feeling I got when I finally pulled it all together.  I laid everything out on the bed, stepped back and gave a nod of approval.  Yes. That’s it.  Everyone’s outfit coordinates.  And my daughter’s outfit is the key with her layers and colors. We all play off of it perfectly.  Exhale.  The hard part is over. (or is it?)

When we arrived in Carmel, it’s 82 degrees on the beach. This is a rarity.  I can count on my fingers how many times I remember being able to go on the beach in shorts, much less a swim suit.  Since it was so hot, what do you think my 6 year old did?  Yep. She took off her sweater and rolled up her striped leggings… simultaneously dashing my hopes of a nicely coordinated family photo. Sigh. Why can’t I control the weather?

Once I saw how much fun my crazy kids were having, and how calm our dog was, I relaxed…I was so happy to be able to get our furry kid to her favorite beach one last time.

She is why we were all here, right?  Not to show off our smartly color coordinated outfits.

When I got the pictures back from Michelle, I cried.  And mentally kicked myself for freaking out about what we were wearing.

  After seeing this photo my kids with our dog, we could have been wearing hammer pants and high-tops and I would have felt the same… like someone had knocked the wind right out of me.  I had to remind myself to breathe.

As I write this I realize I must focus on why we are getting our pictures taken and not worry about how our house looks or what we wear… or any of the other 30 things I tend to think about (Will the camera really add 10 pounds?  How well will my “fine lines and tiny wrinkles” show? Will my kids behave?  Will the house stay clean?  Will there be enough light?  Will my husband relax? – oh the list goes on and on!)

Everything will be fine. No matter what my kids do or what we wear.

I’m ending this post with my all time favorite picture of me and my husband. Michelle captured my husband’s true smile.  The smile I fell in love with nearly 15 years ago.  Every time I look at it, I get tears in my eyes and my heart skips a beat.  I’m a very lucky lady. :)

If you have a spare moment, please wish us luck for this weekend’s session with Tara.  Writing this blog post has helped me feel a bit more grounded, but let’s face it, I’m still going to panic a little about the things I cannot control. ;)  And who knows, maybe we will wear hammer pants and high tops… I guess you’ll have to wait and see!

 

 

 

P.S. If you know where I can get purple hammer pants, shoot me an email. ;)

P.P.S.  You can see more of our family session with Michelle HERE.