… a melody…
There is this girl named Katie. We met just 3 short years ago, but I can’t even remember my life before her. Our first lunch together was over 3 hours long and I’ve called her one of my closest friends ever since. We galavant all over the country on adventures near and dear to our hearts in pursuit of learning and growth. I spend more time with her than just about anyone in my life, yet she lives 6 hours away from me. In our conversations, we seamlessly flow from topics on metaphysics to business, books, our hopes and dreams, our fears and struggles, to my love of Ryan Gosling, with out ever missing a beat. Sometimes we talk for over 20 hours a month on the phone. No joke. Kate is married to a boy named Mike, who sometimes goes by the names Walter or Lance Thunderstud. Mike sends me the most amazing iPhone self portraits that make my day. Mike will tell you how he met me before Katie. Mike also has amazing hair and the most kind eyes. Katie and Mike share quite an extraordinary love. They are one of the few couples in my life that I look to as a model of a love I hope to have one day.
Katie told me this past June that she and Mike were expecting their first child in February. She’s shared her dreams and fears about being a parent. We talked about how things might change once she arrived. I felt her baby girl kick in her belly. We joked about her kids calling me “Grandma Nicole” because sometimes I think I’d like to skip having kids and go straight to being a grandparent. She asked me to photograph the birth of her first child. She asked ME to photograph the birth of her first child! I said yes without really even thinking about it. I’ve never photographed, or even witnessed a birth before, I had no idea what to expect. We worried about how I might miss it being 6 hours away in Boston. I made her an 18 hour birth playlist we thought or hoped would be way too long. We joked about her delivering at home during the blizzard they had. It turns out we didn’t have to worry about me missing it. Katie delivered miss Esmé Leona almost 48 hours after her water broke. I cut the umbilical cord! I witnessed the power of the human body, Esmé’s first breath of air, first time being held by Mike, first time being breastfed, meeting her family.
This was both humbling and magical. I’m so honored and grateful to have been asked to do this. I was asked in the birthing room how long I’ve known Katie. When I heard myself say just a few years, it seemed odd that I would be picked to be there. But I can’t imagine it any other way…
♥
