OUR BACKYARD

There were grand plans for Saturday morning, at least in my mind.  A family outing, maybe some donuts, a walk - there would be togetherness among saturated bushes of leaves upon trees.

Instead, a series of events led to man and woman of the house getting really stressed out and simmering about it. A little bit of bruised ego, a pinch of worry and a dash of anxiety, boiled underneath the surface.  We took a deep breath.  We made eye contact and talk-walked through it. We explained ourselves and sketched out a plan.  He was transparent and kind.  I thought to myself that if there was a man for me to walk through the valleys with, it had to be this man.

We made it out to get to our errands for that day and when we got back, we all sat outside in our backyard while Rusty flew around as he does and Sloane had her lunch. I pulled out the camera because I wanted to capture the feeling in these images.

It was quiet, as if the world had gotten still so that we didn't have to do anything else but look into the trees and breathe deep breaths until, a trance. The sun was a balm; we were made clean.

(this is Sloane's face when Rusty gets a little too close to her food while she's eating)