On hot August nights 20 years ago, when we were in college, we would sit on the steps of her house. Until all hours in the night. Drinking cheap wine, that came in a jug. Price less than $10. Because that’s what we could afford. And if you haven’t lived in Laramie Wyoming, during your college years, in the summer…. you’re missing out. It’s the best time to live there. The best place to be. We would drink and talk and be…..kids with dreams. And I would be lying if I said we weren’t a little untamed. What college kid isn’t?
I was with her the night she met her husband.
Our oldest children are only 6 days apart.
And 20 years later.
I’m photographing them.
We have to make appointments to see each other… literally. Because that’s how it goes when you have kids. And we both know that this portion of our life only lasts for so long. And we both want to breath it in. Take it in. Live it. Because you don’t get to do this part again.
They all have her eyes. They all have her freckles that came at about the same age. And fade a little as they get older. But goodness, I do love their freckle stages. They all have a little bit of her that I get to see. They all have little bits of what I knew as a teenager.
And this is the joy of my life.
The stages. Mine. Hers. Ours. Our kids. Soon they will be in the same place we were.
Maybe they’ll sit on the front steps of a house late into the night and dream.
I really hope they do.
