You may remember this family from their winter session at Winter Brick Park in 2015. I’ve known Christy since I was in kindergarden. I was an extremely shy kid in kindergarden, and she was the one who got me to break out of my shell. I swear that I remember talking to her for the first times on the swings at the playground.

We had a new little addition to the family this time for our fall session at Fenner Nature Center 🙂

Here’s the frame set that ended up in their home—it’s a 16×20″ print in a 20×24″ frame with two 8×10″ prints in 11×14″ frames. I love that this setup leaves room to grow for future photos.

When Chelsea reached out to me about family photos late last summer, I had no idea how much her little family would touch my heart.

When I first met her sweet two-year-old daughter, she reminded me a bit of my younger brother, Pat. It was in the way she held her hands. A bit of history here—Pat was diagnosed with Metachromatic Leukodystrophy when he was six (a genetic disease so rare that it still gets underlined in my text editor as a misspelling to this day). It’s often been mistaken for cerebral palsy by those who have met him.

I’ll tell you this—I’ve always been sensitive and protective about the way others approach Pat. From the time I was eight, I was keenly aware that my family was a bit different. I couldn’t ignore the stares in public, and I’ve always appreciated those who have dared to ask about Pat’s story.

So I’ll be honest. When I met Chelsea and her daughter, I was a bit nervous to ask about her muscles, about the way she held her hands. But I knew that I had always wanted to be asked, and so I asked her. CP was the answer.

Chelsea—thank you for sharing a little bit of your family story with me, and thank you for trusting me to document your family.