On December 20th I lost a best friend, my biggest cheerleader, and the man I called “the best Dad ever.” He was the biggest supporter of my photography, and wanted to know every detail from every wedding or shoot I had. For those of you that don’t know, this past June my Dad had two back-to-back strokes that took a big toll on his body. I received the news 700 miles away, and exactly one month later, Brent and I were u-hauling our entire life to Boston to make the move North. Our decision to move North proved to be the biggest blessing yet. I spent more quality time with my Dad than ever; taking time to enjoy the little things in life with him for the next 6 months. A few of my favorite memories since June…
I saw my Dad for the first time since the strokes, and without fail he was wearing his Elon hat; backwards.
He got to spend time with the ones he loved while in rehab.
And sooner than later he was released from rehab and able to come home. Dad was released on Father’s Day and headed straight to Mandy’s to celebrate. He was greeted by Shae…
And at the end of the day, she didn’t want to see him leave.
We got to watch the sunset…
And enjoy some fun days and nights in Boston…
He got to show me his old stomping grounds in Boston…
And we got to joke about his new hairdos after getting surgery ; )
We ventured to the beach…
And celebrated Mandy’s birthday. Fiesta style.
I took him to get his first mani/pedi before Tim’s wedding…which he loved.
And the following day we watched my brother get married.
At one point, I handed my camera to Brent and forced my dad into a little mini photoshoot with me. These are some of my favorite pictures of all time.
Then we got to dancing…
At the beginning of November we celebrated Shae turning 4.
One of the very last pictures I took of my Dad was when we was getting hooked up for his EEG. I’ve often gotten stares or been “tisk tisked” at for taking pictures at “inappropriate” times, but I’ve never once regretted capturing a photo. My Dad always had a way of making a joke about anything at anytime, and this was one of those times. All hooked up, we couldn’t help but laugh afterwards at gravity putting on some extra facial lbs : )
After spending hours searching for images of my Dad, I realized that he’s one hard fella to track down. He was ALWAYS the one taking the pictures, grouping everyone together, & cracking a joke to make everyone smile. He very rarely got into a picture, and often times when he did he would hold his hand in front of his face, shielding it from the camera. And the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Sure, there are plenty of pictures of me, but ask me to sit down and give you a “nice” smile, and I’ll lose it. *Note awkward (but awesome) hand and leg gestures throughout this post. It has only been recently that I’ve been handing my camera to others in exchange for jumping into the action. I’ve found that asking someone to take a picture of you doesn’t mean you’re aiming to be the center of attention; you’re simply asking someone to capture a memory for you.
Following my Dad’s passing, I will continue to think of him every single day, but the images you see here (and many more not blogged) will be the best reminders of him and his character. Pictures of our time spent together are invaluable no matter how silly, imperfect, or “inappropriate” they are : )
So, here’s to jumping into more photos in 2013, and making sure to never hesitate in clicking the shutter again.
I’ll leave you with one last image. A photo of me and my Dad with his Pentax camera slung over his shoulder. I re-discovered that very same camera this summer, and it captured a handful of images that are displayed above.
Rest In Peace, Dad. I love you.