When a young couple falls in love and decides to marry, there are visions of their future that delight them.  The idea of him seeing her in her wedding gown, the two of them walking over the threshold of their first home, the birth of their first child, retiring somewhere warm and sunny, sitting on their porch, hand-in-hand, enjoying their "golden years".  

But the vision of the future that I was given the honor to photograph was the grandchildren of one very special couple. The children of their children, their link to the future in those little hands and those little eyes, their reward for a life well-lived.  Not everyone is bestowed the honor of becoming a grandparent but the lucky ones who do, usually get one, two, or three to showoff as only a proud grandparent can.  

So, how about eight?  Well, 7 and 8/9, to be more accurate.

Eight beautiful, wonderful, perfect little people who serve as a connection from their past and long into their future gathered together as a gift for their Gamma and Pop Pop.  I have to say the biggest challenge was not wrangling seven kids under seven.  That part was easy.  

The hard part was not jumping in the picture with them.  

You know these people!  It's my family!

Not by blood, yes, but by years of love and devotion.  This family, whom I have loved for so long and whom I have tried to capture for the past 3 1/2 years, made my dreams come true by allowing me this honor.  I am humbled when I think about how much these photos mean to me.  Because, if these photos bring tears of joy to me, what must they mean to them?  Not Gamma and Pop Pop...but that couple, who decades ago, agreed to love and honor and cherish in the hopes of one day, calling this...

their family.

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