Words to go with pictures.

[KB.]

This isn't my story. This is the story of the woman who takes the Tuesday night pictures.

Figured I'd add some words to the mix.

The closer I get to the start of my journey, the more my blessings are magnified.

Several months ago I got a 'new' job. I switched positions at work to a job that better suits my personality. That month I started two of the most treasured relationships in my life right now. Honestly, I don't know why I'm writing this, because my words can hardly do my feelings for these two justice.

I had known her for almost a year...she seemed so distant and secluded, and yet so completely outgoing. But her eyes told me a story...you know how I am...I can read people like a book just by looking into their eyes. She was just about 4 months away from having a baby, but there was no joy in her eyes. None at all. I never really spoke to her, mostly because she never really spoke to me.





I knew him for barely a month. Ha, when he started working at Best Buy with me, I was strangely intrigued...I had never known a person to look so pissed all the time. It entertained me. For the first several weeks he wouldn't even look up as I walked passed. We didn't speak. But I knew who he was. I started to get to know him first. The first thing I ever said to him was 'Why do you look pissed all the time?'...great conversation starter haha. But he smiled. We've spoken nearly every day since.

Her and I shared a similar job, and started talking pretty much every day...she makes me smile and laugh and all sorts of things. These days she has a light in her eyes.



It's been about a little over a month now. We've spent every Tuesday night together. He cooks. She brings her daughter. I photograph. Not much is usually said...but it's those nights that I hold close to my heart. They are my family. And because of these nights and the times we've had together, I will always treat them as such.

I can't explain what I feel...you can see it in my eyes while I'm there. And you can feel it in my heartbeat when I talk about it. But it's hard to explain until you have that. Til you look forward to one night every week because you get to spend it with people who know you well enough to know when to ask questions, and when to not...with people who love unconditionally...with a darling girl who smiles just because you say her name...with a woman who has been through more than a woman her age should and yet still loves with all of her heart...with a man whose experiences cause people to feel nearly every emotion and is content when the only response he receives is a child reaching for him...you can never know what my heart feels for these three...That's not true, you can know. But I can't explain it.

It's something that I look forward to every week, and smile about between. It's something that I will treasure for the rest of my life...and when my life takes me elsewhere, it is something that I will look forward to when I visit home. They are people that I hold so close to my heart that the thought of my life without them in it brings me to tears.

The great thing about that is that they know me so well, and yet we don't say much. That we each get pleasure from the small things. That we each expect nothing, and yet have gained everything.

They are the main reason that I have grown so much in the past month...the reason my heart is so patient...the reason my heart has found the strength to rebuild relationships that I've lost...the reason that I am the woman I am today. They are my heartsong.



KB, you have brought so much into my life without bringing much at all. Thank you for writing your stories...and thank you for letting me be part of them. Thank you for saying so little, and yet teaching me so much.

Tiffany, if you only knew how blessed I feel to have you in my life. You may never understand just how much I love you, but I promise you I do. Years from now I will be somewhere overseas, far from here...but one phone call from you will bring me home...you're the 'little sister' I always wanted and never had. You mean so much to me.

And Addy...dear dear Addy...You won't read this for years. But sweetheart, you are the tie that binds. You are the reason that all of our hearts have changed and grown. You have taught me more than the other two, just in the smile you bring every week. You are what has made me realize that people can still love unconditionally. I consider you my niece, and will love you for the rest of my life.



I love you guys.

~Mandy





Here is the picture thread I posted. Life is a beautiful thing when you let it be that way. Sometimes. I've said it a hundred times, every one has a story, be careful who you let pass you by.





http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/showt ... hp?t=33864

I'll have my own story up later, maybe.

[Patsy Warnick]

Its interesting how lives become woven together.

and from that weave - we grow

Love the pictures

Patsy