You Are Welcome Here.
I recently learned that the cells in the human body completely regenerate every 7-10 years.... you are essentially a different person now than you were 7-10 years ago. Ten years ago I was a photographer, engaged to Daniel- the most absolutely wonderful, absolutely gay person unbeknownst to me 😂 That is an incredible story about the beginning of a most beautiful friendship, but one to tell another day.
Who am I today? I am married to a most wonderful, absolutely straight man named Hunter 😂
I am a mom of two children that are so precious. Isaac is turning five next week and Kit just turned one!
In my 37 years, I have noticed that when faced with hardship I get busy with my hands and cope with it all by teaching myself a myriad of creative skills. When I was depressed in college after a breakup with my first love I taught myself photography by diving deeply into Flickr. That turned into a 15 year career that I really fall short trying to describe just how meaningful it was to me. I was granted a front row view to peoples most joyful moments and it was such an honor to be a part of their lives.
I had my son December of 2019 so you can guess where I'm going with this one... yep, a new mother in a global pandemic with post partum anxiety. PHEW! What a ride. My therapist taught me to spend some time doing something that brought me joy on a regular basis and during that time I learned how to paint, courtesy of Instagram and Youtube University. I also learned that gardening and getting my hands in the dirt is medicine for my soul and I grew one heck of an english rose garden.
Spring of 2023 I was pregnant again! With twins! I received a phone call from my ex fiance's husband Casey, whom I adore. He told me that Daniel passed away suddenly from an aneurysm and that he wanted to tell me himself because Daniel loved me so much and thought so highly of me. The next day I learned that one of my twins had structural and chromosomal anomalies that were incompatible with life, and that allowing him to pass away on his own would have and almost did kill me and his healthy twin sister. But that's another story for another day. I didn't know it at the time, but surviving that would turn me into one hell of an advocate for women like me. To help me make sense of all of the trauma and process I taught myself how to sew clothes.
I am significantly different from the person that I was ten years ago. I have turned hardships to ways to help me heal. It is a goal of mine to teach some of the skills that I have picked up along the way to bring others joy and healing as well. I recently deleted my photography website that contained such a beautiful collection of fifteen years of photography work and blogs chronicling that time in my life. I am stepping into who I am now here in this space. It will likely be all over the place and a branding specialist's nightmare since there is no niche here- just a delightful hodgepodge that is my life and interests. Welcome- I hope that being in this space inspires you to work out what brings you joy and healing and gives you the courage to go after it.