Total Refresh!

I recently refreshed my website, you may have heard 😉

I am also in the process of refreshing my office- new color on the walls, painting the furniture, awaiting a loveseat, choosing which framed images to hang- it’s very exciting!

And yesterday, I decided to refresh myself!

Families with medically complex children try so hard to normalize their lives, and that might include creating a vacation that is accessible and agreeable to everyone. We had an exciting week planned in Hampton Beach, NH. Found a very well priced hotel on the beach with a sofa-bed in a separate room from the bedroom, a full kitchen, and an elevator. Perfect! But with COVID back on the rise, and a fortune cookie that read “The greatest danger could be your stupidity,” we reluctantly decided to cancel. Crap. Another plan for family fun that totally fell apart.

How many times has that happened to you? I remember over the course of one year we cancelled 5 trips! That was when Harry was a baby and got pneumonia monthly, 10 months in one year. Banked a lot of frequent traveller points at Children’s Hospital that year. So now, we just can’t be 100% excited for any plans, but after a year and a half of COVID and not even taking him into a grocery store, we sure were 99% looking forward to this!

Anyway…I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am for the childcare we have. Obviously we had cancelled our nurse and PCAs scheduled for the week, and we were extremely fortunate that they were still available! Especially Ashley, an aid in Harry’s classroom, whom he adores, and her flexibility.

Bless that young lady, she came over for a full day yesterday so that I could actually refresh myself! It was a beautiful day, and I decided to take a much needed beach day, just me. Oh it was so delightful! I sat, I watched, I listened, I absorbed, I talked to people, I took it all in. I smiled. I was so content that at one point I didn’t know how to handle it! Funny, huh?

And of course I brought my camera. I have always referred to Harrison as a happy observer, and yesterday that’s what I was. And I realized this is what I love about being a photographer. It was such a satisfying feeling to watch, and then be able to freeze the scenes. Whether the photos are planned or not, there are always unexpected moments to catch, and they can be priceless!