Learn to Love

We just got another call from a beautiful woman who cancelled her session. She didn’t make it to her goal weight. She just couldn’t face the camera. This is the the track that repeats year after year, the broken record we have memorized.

Just a friendly reminder to all the hot mess mama’s out there: We get it. Completely. Been there done that. Still there, running ‘round the same stupid wheel ourselves, trying to hit goals, dropping balls, throwing in the towel, picking it up again. There is a lot to juggle. But you know, we believe in beauty. It’s easy for us to see it in others. We document it most days of our lives. And it is there for us too. All of us. 

Please don’t wait on the sidelines of your life. Get over it. Who. even. cares. how much weight you gained? Who cares what your goal number is!? Who cares what number is on your jeans tag. NO ONE. Literally, no one cares. Just you. Please don’t wait for perfection. That’s going to take forever. Because it will literally never come. 

Instead, document your life. Tell the story of what it means to be a woman, a mom, a wife. Tell them in photos what it means to overcome, to be indomitable, resilient, strong, courageous. And someday, pass all of it over to your daughters and sons when they struggle. Because they will. What makes us think that the things tripping us up all our lives won’t trip them too? You hold the map, mom.

Frame your life. Paper your walls in the look of your love. Their hands will be full of your heart and your countenance as they see you right now: present in this moment. Let them remember you, as you are. Hold them in photos. One day your arms will be empty. Time is of essence. What are you waiting for? 

Please don’t feed your vanity. Don’t give even another inch to ‘someday’. Stop booking sessions for just your children when you know deep down that you need to be in it. Get in the frame! Celebrate your life in all it’s forms and stages. You have already arrived. Don’t you see? You have always been enough. You ARE enough. Right now, with the lines, wrinkles, pounds, gray hairs. You are beautiful, friend. You are important. Ask your mama. Ask your husband. Ask your children. They will tell you what we see, every time we lift our lens. 

Here are a few pictures of some of our mama’s that chose to leave a legacy, that learned to love, one frame at a time.