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The Way I View “Friendship”

I had so much trouble figuring out how to do this month’s post! Friendship is such an important part of life, and it comes in so many different forms. There is the precious gift of family: My side is small and sweet and means the world to me, and Tom’s side large and kind and abundant with love. There are the friends who cross our paths seemingly at times of greatest need or by merely being in the same place at the same time, such as at work, which though fleeting in the grand scheme of life, still is fun and wonderful all on its own. There are friends we meet whom we know will be there forever, no matter how often we do or do not see them and regardless of whether circumstances change and we graduate, or our children grow up, or any other number of life changes happen. And in this age, there are even friends we meet online through a shared interest, whom we may or may not ever meet in person but with whom we can pour out our hearts in joy and sorrow in emails or forums. There is the amazing friendship I have with my daughter, that I still can’t believe is real some days because it is so perfect and delicate in balance between her being my child (and me the parent) but also her being one of my dearest and most cherished friends. And there are friends that fill in for family that is most often far away but who do so as lovingly and without reservation as a family would. I cherish ALL of these friendships in their uniqueness and in their common thread of helping to make life such a joy.

But the friendship I ultimately chose to focus on this month is the one I have with my husband, the man who has chosen to spend his entire life with me, through the wonderful times and also the less than wonderful ones. I feel so grateful to have him, and that he picked me. He makes me crazy at times (as I know I do him), but he also knows how to love me like no other. To him I feel eternally grateful, and eternally in love! And it seems especially appropriate to celebrate our friendship this month, as we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on the 21st!

Sooo… These images are pretty awful—they started out less than stellar in lighting, exposure, white balance, composition, you name it—and then were made even more awful by the fact that I scanned them with our home scanner. But I cherish them nonetheless. I realize too how caught up we get in the mundane aspects of life—school, work, raising a family, keeping up a household. But looking through old albums over the last couple of days to find images was so much fun, and made me remember once again what a wonderful life we’ve shared in the 24 (!!) years since we met.

So in a nutshell, here is our “friendship” to date:

March1989 001Blog

Feb1990Blog

June 1990Blog

Jan 1993Blog

WeddingSB

Our honeymoon:
HoneymoonBlog

Our first meal (it was Taco Bell!) in our first (and very possibly only!) home:
September 1996Blog

Our second anniversary trip to Europe:
April 1998Blog

BirthSB

Our tenth anniversary:
IMG_2645Blog

Our little family now:
IMG_2638Blog

And this last one was taken by Emily for this post, to show us today (since I realized we are so rarely in shots alone together!):
JRH_1829-EditBlog

The act of gathering my images for this month’s post reminded me, too, why I am so passionate about photography. Even these badly executed images are treasures to me, each and every one of them. They are tangible proof that we can hold in our hands of love, of family and friendships, of lives well lived, even of sorrow. Photography provides us with snippets of memories, moments large and small, that could easily otherwise be forgotten but that should not be forgotten. They give memories that can now be cherished, even if you go YEARS without even glancing at them. And that is something to celebrate!

Now please continue our circle, to see what the amazing Leah Cook came up with for “Friendship”!

  • […] forget to follow the circle around to see how everyone else views friendship. Next up, the talented Jessica Holden! Children,CMPro The Way I View Project,dallas child photographer,Personal,The Everyday « […]ReplyCancel

  • Leslie - May 2, 2012 - 6:37 am

    What a lovely “story” Jessica!!! I like your interpretation of “friendship” and it was so wonderful to see this snippet of your life!ReplyCancel

  • gigi - May 2, 2012 - 12:26 pm

    This is such a wonderful post Jessica! Happy Anniversary to you both! I didn’t realize how much Emily looks like you btw – she’s totally your mini-me. 🙂 Beautiful picture of you and your husband that E took too!ReplyCancel

  • Anne - May 2, 2012 - 12:41 pm

    Oh Jessica, this is such a beautiful post. It made me teary ! So much love and happiness radiate from these precious photos. Thank you so much for sharing your treasure with us !ReplyCancel

  • Brook - May 2, 2012 - 1:35 pm

    Oh what a sweet post! It was great to read your story & see the progression of your friendship & love through your photos. It reminds me of that song “so happy to be in love with my best friend” Love it!ReplyCancel

  • Tracey - May 2, 2012 - 2:34 pm

    You are an amazing writer as well as photographer! I totally teared up reading this. Awesome! Kudos to Emily for capturing the recent shot of you and Tom. Happy Anniversary!ReplyCancel

  • Krista Campbell - May 2, 2012 - 3:57 pm

    What a beautiful family you have Jessica! You are SO cute!!! 🙂 Love this!ReplyCancel

  • Rebecca - May 2, 2012 - 8:58 pm

    Jessica, I love it! What a beautiful tribute to your friendship.ReplyCancel

  • christina - May 2, 2012 - 9:53 pm

    I so enjoyed your trip down memory lane!! E is the just the perfect mix of you two –I suspect not only in looks but in personality too. <3ReplyCancel

  • Melissa - May 3, 2012 - 8:20 am

    Jessica!! I had the best time reading this and looking through your images! How fun and wonderful that you have them all. :hp I love the one of you by the tent in the snow! Ha! These are great…thanks for sharing them!ReplyCancel

  • julian evans - May 3, 2012 - 8:27 am

    What beautiful words and I love that your first meal in the new house was Taco Bell 😉 I think I love you even more now!ReplyCancel

  • Cary - May 3, 2012 - 8:49 pm

    This is such a fun post! (Snow camping-yikes!) Beautiful thoughts here, congrats on 24 yrs together 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Laura A - May 8, 2012 - 4:00 pm

    I love seeing old pictures! A wonderful post of friendship!ReplyCancel

  • Linda - May 9, 2012 - 6:03 pm

    I love posts like this! So much fun to see how things started. Oh and your daughter takes amazing photos – you’re teaching her well 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Holly Thompson - May 10, 2012 - 5:40 am

    Oh Jessica! You were so YOUNG. Me and my DH celebrate our 15th anniversary on the 24th this month, so this post made me nostalgic. I loved seeing your journey through the years with your best friend. What an amazing gift!!! Emily looks like a perfect blend of the two of you and she did a great job capturing that last photo. I love this post!!!ReplyCancel

  • Veronica - May 24, 2012 - 7:54 pm

    This is so lovely and so beautiful. THANK YOU for sharing this. You guys are an inspiration to all married couples and your family is beautiful. I truly love this.ReplyCancel