A Birthday Gift She'll Never Forget

When my mother-in-law, Gigi, was turning seventy, I wanted to do something that actually meant something. Not a dinner, not a gift card. I wanted to give her something she could cherish forever. So when we made the trip out to Lawrence, Kansas to celebrate her, I packed my camera. I rallied my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, told them we were doing a photoshoot, and got everyone on the same page. I put together a Pinterest board for wardrobe so we'd have bright, artful aesthetic across the whole group. I asked everyone to bring the blankets Gigi had made for their kids and their favorite books she'd gifted them over the years. 

But there was someone else I needed in that frame too.

Gigi’s mom, Grandma Cherry.

Grandma Cherry was ninety-eight years old. The grandmother to my husband and great grandma to my two boys who absolutely adored her. She was sharp, vibrant, present in a way that honestly made you forget her age entirely. And as much as we all hoped she’d be around for years to come, we knew time was not on our side.

I am so glad we did.

She passed that November. Two days shy of her ninety-ninth birthday.

We actually stayed with Grandma Cherry for the visit to Kansas. In her basement, basically. And every single morning, without fail, my boys Felix and Roman would wake up before everyone else, run upstairs, and just... find her. They just wanted to be near her. She'd make them cereal and they'd sit there and talk, two little boys and a ninety-eight-year-old woman, totally in their own world. By the time my husband and I dragged ourselves upstairs, she wasn't even fazed. She was just laughing and loving every second of it.

That's who she was. The kindest kid-loving soul.

Grandma Cherry started to get a little tired, so after we got our photos with her, we heading over a few houses down where my brother-n-laws had rented an Airbnb. It was time for Gigi’s Shoot.

This is the part I love most about what I do. You can put a family in front of a beautiful backdrop and take technically perfect photos, and they'll be fine. But when you layer in the things that actually belong to that family? That's when the photos become something else.

Gigi is an artist. She has crafted blankets for every single one of her grandkids, and I asked everyone to bring them. All four. Mason, Roman, Joshua, and Felix. We also brought along a few of the books she had gifted the boys over the years, because she always picks the most beautifully illustrated books made from local artists.

The binoculars was an idea I came up with.

Gigi is an avid birder. Like, deeply into it. So I found the cutest little binoculars and brought them as a prop, and honestly, the boys loved them. It was the most natural thing in the world, and it was a nod to her.

Gigi is an avid birder. Like, deeply into it. So I found the cutest little binoculars and brought them as a prop, and honestly, the boys loved them. It was the most natural thing in the world, and it was a nod to her.

I am not going to pretend I always fully grasp the weight of this job. But every once in a while, a session reminds me. These aren't just photos. They're the thing a family reaches for when they need to remember someone.  Not just to remember what someone looked like, what they felt like. 

If you've been thinking about booking a session with your own parents or grandparents, I want to gently say: do it now. You don't have to wait for a reason as big as a seventieth birthday. You just have to decide it matters.

Because it does.

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH AREA WHO TRAVELS FOR SESSIONS AND BELIEVES IN CAPTURING THE REAL, LIVING, BREATHING HEART OF YOUR FAMILY, I'D LOVE TO CONNECT. REACH OUT, AND LET'S MAKE SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST FOREVER.