Jeff’s sweet aunt sent us a truly meaningful Christmas gifts this past holiday season. She sent Jeff two prints – one of his grandmother and one of his grandfather. They are displayed in our living room, enclosed in the cardboard frames that the photo studio provided all those decades ago, which I think is absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t want them framed any other way.

Jeff burst into tears the moment he opened the gift. His grandfather helped to raise him when he was a small child in Minneapolis while his mom was a flight attendant and his dad worked his full time 9-5. His grandfather passed away when Jeff was still very young, but those few years with him have lasted a lifetime. His grandmother is still with us and has been the rock of the family ever since.

I love that both of these prints were taken when Jeff’s grandparents were both young – roughly the same age that most of our couples are today. In the millisecond that it takes to glance across the room at these prints displayed above my precious library of books, I become overwhelmed, sobered, thankful and humbled in one fell stroke. We get to envision and create these portraits for all types of couples that will someday become parents, aunts, great uncles, grandparents and great grandparents to the generations that are coming.

For Jeff, these prints represent the foundation of unconditional and ever-flowing love into which he was born. For me, these prints remind me of our purpose. Thank you, Aunt Sharen, for the gift of both.

PS Can you see where Jeff gets his boyish smile??

Hugs,

Erin