Penny Sylvia Photography BLOG

Growing up my brother Scott and I had the BEST grandparents … really on both my mothers side and my fathers side … I count ourselves truly blessed for that … On my fathers side, our grandma and grandpa “D” as we called them made sure that every Labor Day weekend we were camping. So many childhood memories come from those trips! I can literally close my eyes and be right there on some lake fishing with my grandma and grandpa, Scott and my cousin Shonda … my grandpa getting grumpy because we were giggling and then he would be defeated by our silliness and start telling “grandpa jokes” which always were so gross and made us giggle even more. My grandma always had a lunch packed for us (tears are starting to roll down my face) and we would just enjoy the lake and each other … seriously I think growing up there was no greater gift that was given to me than the time my grandparents set aside and took just for us three grandkids.  Time is our most valuable thing that we are all given and we all get to choose had we spend it … what a treasure my grandparent gave us and at the time I had no idea …

I distinctly remember our last Labor Day weekend trip … Tony and I had a new puppy Maxwell, so we of coarse brought him along and like usual we beat grandma and grandpa there … see, it was never uncommon for them to be … oh … say … 4 hours late! OMG … the stories I could tell on just that detail alone! Adventures with my grandparents were never short on just that … ADVENTURE … you’d think I’d be a better storyteller with the adventures we’ve been through! LOL  How in the world my grandparents always came to a happy ending on some of those adventures I will never know … expect I can say they always had each other and they always stuck to each other

This weekend I’m shooting a wedding, and for a couple that have a zest for life that actually remind me a lot of my grandma and grandpa “D”.  I will think of them this weekend and I will surly cry if there is a sweet old couple at the wedding (there always is … so hand me a tissue early).  Next year on labor day weekend … I am going to make a promise … I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure that My brother Scott and his family, My cousin Shonda and her family and my family are camping … AND I will have photos of that!!

p.s. I called my brother on the way home from rehearsal last night and we already started making plans … check off the list … tent vs. cabin … CABIN

… so I’m not going to lie, I live in the same City as my  mom and yet we don’t spend much time together …

Today my kiddos and I had lunch with my mom and we had a blast.  She has two new bassett hound puppies and my kids just loved them!  They are darn cute I tell you … my kiddos and those puppies!  It was such fun watching them play together!

What I wanted to share is how something so simple but profound hit me … I haven’t lived in my parents home for more than 22 years now and this afternoon at lunch my mom asked me to get her a ziplock baggie and I knew EXACTLY which drawer it was in!  I haven’t gotten a ziplock baggie out of that drawer for 22 years and yet I knew where to get one!     All kinds of feelings came to surface as I pulled that drawer open … brought me right back to 1989 … seriously … I totally felt 18 again today as I helped my mom make lunch and clean the dishes … it was nice actually … but totally weird!

I love my mom, my mom is really the main person who gave me the strong values I have, along with my two grandmas.  My mom became a single mom when I was 8 and she struggled to give us what she felt was the best life she could give us and as I look back at the person she was then I find that I do many the things that she would have done then.  It’s so amazing how the apple does not fall from the tree.  Scary sometimes too!

This weekend I shot the wedding of Kimberly and Rob, both of whose parents have been married for at least 25 or more years, I know that because of the anniversary dance which always makes me cry because I just love happy older ones, and it made me think of my own childrens wedding, and how I can’t wait to do that anniversary dance with Tony…AND dancing to the lastest dance mixes that hopefully djwill will mix and we will dance like their parents did … which totally brought tears to my eyes at how wonderfully happy they were.  My mom remarried when I was in Jr. High and my mom and dad just celebrated their 25th anniversary!  Time sure does fly!

It really just hit me today how quickly something so small like pulling out a drawer can bring you right back to a place where so many things are possible and how today they really are too … we just need to be open to it … and not put up the walls that we do over time, to be open to remembering things that maybe we just forgot …

I love you mom.