remember

I want to remember the privilege and honor I felt getting to know Melissa and Jake. I don't know how she possibly found me but I will be forever grateful she did.

When she contacted me she told me she was on the hunt for a photographer and explained a little about herself. I instantly thought, "pick me, pick me!" I felt like a kid standing in line again for soccer at recess praying someone would pick me for their team. I had no idea how much this shoot would mean to me and hopefully to her as she goes forward with her life.

I don't even know where to start to explain myself and so I asked Melissa if I could share what she said when we first started emailing. She told me she was ready to share. I'm proud of her and grateful she did because she touched my life. Here is what she said,

"I have a feeling we will be booking another session with you for later this summer (with our two dogs), we will be coming up on our 8-year anniversary in August and have been together for 10 years. We are high school sweethearts and have been together for our entire school journey. We were married at 19 so we have kind of taken turns going to school and working. Jake is a journeyman plumber and I work at St. Luke's providing the business support for Nursing Services. I am getting my master's in instructional and performance technology. I have focused heavily on performance improvement in my school work and will likely advance into performance consulting internally at St. Luke's in the next couple of months.

I am starting to figure out what I want captured in the photos. Going to school has been an enormous journey for me and I am not sure what it will be like to be done. I don't really know anything else! I do want fairly casual pictures with a few that have a slight Americana feel to them and then some that are a little less casual. I think something you should probably know about us and where the desire for the Americana-flair comes from. We are a gold-star family. My brother was a Marine killed in Iraq almost 3 years ago. I was going to school at the time so it will be different now not going to school.

Let me know if you have any ideas on how to incorporate everything let me know. I love subtleness..."

Today is the three year anniversary of the death of Lance Corporal Marine Dale G Peterson. He was in the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Melissa brought several things to remember him by and as I looked at a picture in the local paper of him I told her he was a really handsome guy, she said, "I'm lucky that I get to look at his eyes everyday, because I have his eyes"

I guess I say that I'm lucky enough to get to see his eyes too and grateful to have been a small part in remembering a fallen hero.

Melissa's smile was completely infectious and her love for life and determination was evident. She is such a strong person with a love for family that really moved me. I seriously have 80 pictures that I cannot narrow down. Telling her story was a beautiful experience from beginning to end. We both had ideas that came together so well and I loved how our joint vision came together.

Capturing who she was as a student was amazing as well. She knows who she is and I'm so grateful to be able to tell her story, where she studied on the third floor of the library, the hours that she spent there and the goals and dreams she achieved.

Melissa, I'm so sorry for your loss and I hope that on this day as your family remembers your fallen hero you will know how much I have been touched by your story, your hope, and your love. Thank you a million times over for blessing my life.