Kennedy
It’s such a beautiful time of year. The sun is shining, children are happy and summer is almost here. I know some of us are at our wits end with “end of school” activities and last-minute gifts for teachers, and if you’re like me, needing to buy shoes for your kids before they’re literally walking on the soles of their feet! Thank goodness its summer and I can get away with flip-flops for the next few months.
It’s also a time of transition. In so many different ways. Transitions can show up for people differently as well. Some people are excited while others are hesitant. I’m witnessing this with my two nieces that are about to move out of the house for the first time. One has completed her Junior College experience and is off to UC San Diego and her sister is going to attend the Paul Mitchell School for Cosmetology in the same town of San Diego. One sister can’t wait to go and the other started coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why she shouldn’t. Bottom line, they’re just adjusting to change in different ways. Thankfully they have each other to lean through the experience.
It’s interesting, I never really thought about transitions very much until I had children and specifically a child who has a hard time with change. It started me thinking about how I feel about change. Have you thought about that lately? How you handle the stress of transitions in your life? It’s an interesting inquiry to think about.
I realized that there’s a big part of me that gets excited about change. It means new things, new experiences and possibility. I’m a lover of possibility! But, I have a small part of myself that resists, that gets scared of what may come. I like routine, it’s comfortable but it’s the smaller part of me that fears what’s coming next and the larger part of me that embraces the different path ahead.
When I met Kennedy, we talked about all of those things because she is in a state of transition herself. She is a “senior” who is graduating and going off to college. Her mom hired me to photograph her and capture not only who she is now but who she is becoming. It was so much fun. It was interesting though. She talked about how she thinks she’s a bit more hesitant than some of her friends to leave. That she’s not sure what the future holds and how that scares her a bit. From seeing her relationship with her mom and sister that came along on the shoot I can bet that part of the reason she’s not eager to leave is because she has a warm and loving home life and it’s hard to think about leaving that environment, especially for the unknown. Lucky for Kennedy, her big brother is already living in the town where she’s moving so she won’t be totally alone. I thought that was pretty awesome and wished my sister had been closer to me in age so that she would have been in the town I moved to for college!
I was lucky to spend two hours with Kennedy at the beautiful Cavallo Point. We all wandered around the grounds, talking and laughing. I loved capturing her sweet spirit. She was cute, and beautiful and shy and brave all at the same time. She was fun and a bit reserved and just a beautiful person. Kennedy, I know you’re going to have an amazing experience at college. You’re a kind and bright young woman with a loving family supporting you on this new adventure. Take a deep breath and enjoy every moment!
