The Gateway

I was a little nervous when Chris' Aunt asked me to take her son Ryan's Senior pictures... the whole deal. Cap and Gown, tuxedo, and the soon to be taken casual pics. I thought, okay, I can take pictures of babies and children and people doing completely random things...but can I take professional looking Senior pictures? And then after working myself up into an anxiety ridden hype, I started to feel a little nostalgic. I graduated from the same high school as Ryan, waaay back in 2002 (ha!). And I started to think a little bit about what finishing high school was like. How you have all these rock solid friendships that you just know will last forever. And some of them do. But most of them don't. I have always seen high school graduation as a gateway into adulthood. You aren't an adult just yet, but you certainly aren't just some "kid" anymore. You can go out in college and have no curfew. You are also knocking on responsibility's door. You are in the last years of getting a "pass" because you are a teenager. The gateway to a world where you really figure out who "you" are. In the next few years you go from awkward and silly to distinguished and mature. But I know that the awkward and silly is still lying dormant somewhere deep down, and comes to play every so often. And its so important that it does. Its the only link we have to the joyful, carefree, sleep-till-noon, giggle your way through, flirtatious days of our youth. I have to tell myself to keep that girl alive and well, because its easy to get sucked into a mommy/professional lifestyle. We need to keep the path from the gateway brightly lit to remember when we first became the people we are today. Ryan, you are a wonderful, intelligent, spiritual and mature spirit, with an old soul. And I say old soul in the most positive light. You were an adorable little guy when I first met you, way back in 2003, and you have become a fighter, and a leader, among so many other things. I wish you (and Courtney) the very, very best. Now, really, I'm finished being mushy gushy.