Wow.  That pretty much just sums it up.  I award these children the best behaved kids I’ve ever shot.  Seriously, it’s sessions like this that make me fall deeper in love with photography.  I can relate it to once, a few years back, while golfing with James and my father-in-law in Florida.  It was a par 5, and after my drive, I was 190 yards away from the flag.  I took out my fairway wood–thanks to my Uncle Sal who gave me my set of golf clubs.  And I remember taking my swing, and watching that darn pink ball take off so beautifully from my wood and land, bounce and roll nearly right next to the hole.  My jaw dropped, and I vowed right then and there that I was going to become a professional golfer on the LPGA.  Of course, I missed my putt.  And then I missed my second putt.  But no matter. . . I COULD’VE had an eagle.  That one perfect shot made me feel for a brief instant that everyone was right in my world.  That I made something AMAZING happen.  That I was invincible and I got a rush from it that I wanted to just repeat over and over with the remaining holes in the course.

We all know how this story is going to end though.  The next hole, I’m sure I messed up my drive and took a mulligan.  I’m sure I ended up double and triple bogeying eighty percent of the rest of the course.  But I certainly always will look back at the great shots and think about how amazing doing well really is.

That’s sort of how I feel about this session.  The family was beautiful.  The sky was amazing.  The kids were perfect.  Sessions like this make me forget, at least for awhile, the difficulties that I’ve had on my journey.  The kids who I’ve had a hard time connecting with.  The awkwardness that I sometimes feel during sessions with people I don’t know.  The newborn sessions that are so hard that I end up crying after the session is over.  The nerves before weddings and the fear that at some point, I will mess up terribly at something and I will have to face people angry with me.

But for right now, I will remember this.  I will remember the email that I received from the mom of this family after she viewed her pictures.  I will remember that this dad posted my website link on his Facebook page and recommended me to all of his friends even though he had just met me.  And I will remember when I got a text from this little girl’s mommy telling me that she went home and referred to me as Aunt Bethany for the rest of the day.

Just like that awesome golf shot back in 2008–this is one to never forget.