Throughout my life certain things have always stayed the same… No matter where I’ve lived, what job I was in at the time, how long (or short) my hair was, there have always been certain inevitable truths… Nature will always be where I go to ground myself… My cup will always be half-full, instead of half-empty… I will never get enough sleep… I will always follow my heart with reckless abandon…

Throughout much of my childhood (and 20’s), summers were spent sailing on the bay. Nothing short of a hurricane could keep me off the water – and even then it was up for debate… I’m not sure exactly when it was, but I believe it was one hot day in high school when the new lifeguard at the pool showed up – a sweet, beautiful brunette named Hilary. She’d guard the waters and keep all of us sailor-types with our crazy, wind-blown hair and blistered hands from drowning. We eventually became friends and would occasionally see each other throughout the school year. But as soon as the summer heat cranked up you could count on her being perched up in that lifeguard chair with a view of the bay, guarding us from… quite honestly, from our ourselves…

Fast forward nine years or so… In the middle of what was an unbearably cold DC winter, we ran into each other in passing. As is typical in the city, we were hurrying in opposite directions. I spotted her smiling, tan face (I remember thinking “How is she tan in December?”) and it completely lifted my spirits and brought me right back to being happy and relaxed by bay, if only for a moment. We were able to meet up and learn that we had been living parallel lives for several years – attending the same graduate school (different departments), living nearby, and involved in the same organizations. We had just never crossed paths until then! We promptly put an end to that and rekindled our friendship.

Since then I’ve grown my hair out, had a child, had my world turned upside down, moved across the country, drastically altered my career path, and spent a lot of time looking out at the bay where we first met. Hilary has been one of the many people that have been there for me through it all and over the past three summers I’ve been fortunate that’s she’s entrusted me to capture her family photos. It’s a job that I take very seriously, and after finding out that Susan Stripling photographed their wedding (that’s a hard act to follow, ya’ll!) I have to confess to being a little nervous. This summer we headed out to Pier Park and played on the beach, followed by some play-time at Miracle Strip. I enjoyed watching them interact with the new baby, and their oldest daughter splash by the water’s edge. It was obvious to me that Hilary and Tom are raising two happy and relaxed children that not only appreciate and love the water, but that know that they can count on them no matter what life throws at them.

Like what you see? Tell a friend! We’re luftcreative.com