It’s funny, ever since I have had my own children I get a certain sense of nostalgia in all sorts of different situations. When we are photographing a wedding and it is time for speeches, I invariably start tearing up when I hear the parents or siblings or best man tell stories about the bride or groom – I think of how that day is going to come when my heart overflows reminiscing about stories from my children’s childhood and how proud I am. Or when we are photographing a family portrait session, I can envision my children running around having a great time having their photograph taken and how important those photos are going to be years from now when the parents look back at them. Or when an engagement session takes place, the couple’s interaction demonstrates their love for one another – the love that may or may not one day lead to them having children but regardless, they are on a beautiful path together. Or the senior portrait session that reminds me in its simplicity of the beauty of youth and how quickly childhood gets away from us as parents.

When I first looked at these pictures – as we were about to start editing, I began thinking about this boy’s mom. How proud she is. That her little boy had grown up to be a self assured young man who loves his dirt bike and loves his skateboard and will happily be attending ASU in a few short months.

And then of course I started thinking about me. That one day, my two little girls are going to graduate from high school and be grown ups. That made me both happy and sad.

When the images were ready, I sent mom a link to the slideshow. I couldn’t help but mention this to her. As we chatted on the phone we discussed what a bittersweet time this must be. As a parent you must be so pleased to have reached this milestone, to have raised a child to be so proud of. You are so happy that they are going off to college and wish them all the success in the world -their amazing future lies before them. But somewhere in your heart there is that little pang of sadness, your little baby is gone forever.

Oh my! I can already feel the pain in my heart! (and I have about 12 years to go….)