"Don't you touch my carrots!"

Life is made of moments strung together to create your history with a person or the fabric of a relationship. I remember the first real stitch clearly, sitting on my mother-in-law's back patio when Savanna plopped down in the chair across the table from me. She had a small plate of food, mostly consisting of carrots with some Ranch dressing. She was almost 4 years old. I was the uncle that she had just met. Well, I had been around her, but she was just coming to the age when she was 'aware' of the peripheral people in her family. The situation got 'real' for her in a hurry.

Savanna had forgotten her drink, so it was now necessary for her to leave the table to go get it. That meant that she had to leave her plate at the table with me. We were the only people at the table. She looked up at me and I could tell she was conflicted. "Was I trustworthy?" A short internal deliberation and some four -year -old decision gymnastics later it was settled. She decided that in the sum total, I was 'ok'. However, as she got up from the table she gave me the hard eye and said, "Don't you touch my carrots!" (pronounced care whats). And there it was, the stitch was complete, tied neatly into my memory. I wish I had captured that moment in time, but I had no camera and was woefully unprepared for the magic of that moment. Even though I do not have that image captured, it is in my mind forever.

Look at her now:

She is on the cusp of her adult life. She is beautiful. But, I can't help but see that face and mild threatening look as she warned me off her carrots. Believe me, I did not touch her carrots.

Since 'the day of the carrots', the fabric is richer. Our family moved to Missouri- into the small town where we all live now. In fact, we are neighbors. There is a small creek that separates our houses from one another. When Savanna, her sister and mom moved into the house they said that we should put in a bridge so they could cross over any time to our house. I promptly responded that I was going to widen the creek into a moat and get some alligators to keep them at bay. Ahhh, how the worm had turned. And the look of derision from my teenage nieces served to illustrate the fabric had grown.

Savanna asked me if I could take some pictures for her junior prom. The lead image in this entry is from that session. She was a bit uncomfortable at first, but my wife got her to loosen up and that image is the result. The dark background makes her image jump off the screen. I am very pleased with it, as I believe she is too. Next week I will be taking her senior prom pictures and am looking forward to it. In her gallery there are several pictures that I took for her senior portraits. When she asked me to do it, I asked her, "Do you trust me?" again, she looked at me a bit unsure and said, "Yes." I said no one will have senior pictures like yours, if you trust me. She agreed. We took some shots in Kansas City and around our little town. Some of the wall art in KC is fantastic. These images contain artwork tucked away in alleys and areas in downtown KC. I could not wait to get some shots of her with these works as the backdrop. This artwork has now been covered by new works and I convinced her to go back and pose for some more- and now no one will ever have senior photos like hers.

Here are some of them: