his day {life}

So this will be short because I often find myself humbled and without words when it comes to describing Neel, but today's his birthday! Hooray Neel!

I took these photos (Big Daddy!) of Callum and Neel working on an invention that Callum is doing for school (sanctioned parent participation, I promise!) because the singlemost important thing I can say about this amazing man I married is what a stunningly wonderful father he is.

He's creative and kind and patient and a gazillion kinds of fun. Neel's the kind of guy who will notice if you have a new haircut or who decides that he would like to start opening car doors for me and just does it. He's trying to teach our son to do these things too. I know that my happiness is important to him, and I hope he knows that his is just as important to me. I remember once, fairly shortly after we met, Neel and I were roaming a cemetery near our college campus. A deer bounded in front of us and he said, "Watch!" And with each of the deer's leaps he said, "now," timing his words perfectly to the rhythm of the deer jumping. I thought, if a guy can do that, he must be pretty cool.

He'll probably kill me for posting this picture! It's the very first shot I took with Big Daddy. I wanted to include it partly because I want you to see this man that I adore, but also, this photo feels symbolic to me. Neel's support means the world to me. Without it, I wouldn't be half the woman or mother that I am. Babies love him. Dogs love him. Callum and I love him too. Happy Birthday, my dearest one.

road trip {life}

I love taking road trips with Neel and Callum. They're so much easier now than the one we took to move here from California when Callum was four. A bit trickier, that one. We definitely had a phase where Callum watched DVDs in the back of the car, and on our most recent long trip this past summer, I read a book aloud. For this short trip (just over 6 hours), we mostly just chatted and watched the world go by.

I kept my camera in my lap the whole time.

We're making friends, this camera and I. Getting to know each other. Not quite there yet, I'd say. I knew that the only way to really start getting comfortable would be to dive right in, so I kept it with me as much as possible. I took Old Faithful along, because I didn't want to miss any important moments, but in the end, I didn't get her out. Right now, I feel like my brain is trying to assimilate so much information; I've reached my processing limit. I'm taking a photography class with Clickin' Moms, so there's that input going in. I'm trying to adjust to a new camera. More input. We'll work the kinks out, but sometimes it's hard.

Sometimes, it's enough to watch the world go by.

It's scenes like this that make me love the Eastern Shore so much. A humanity so different from my own. The pulse of rural life appeals to me, a life lived amid the heart beat of the land. I could have taken hundreds of pictures just like these. Maybe someday I will. I'd love to make this our destination on some future journey. The marshy by-ways of this natural wonder.

But the road eventually leads away from these tiny towns, dotted as they are by solitary farms and store fronts. Headed further north, away from these scrubby pines, we grow more industrial. The heartbeat of the mid-Atlantic.

There's beauty here too.

And Pennsylvania welcomes us.