The Why’s // Weeno Photography // Truth Sessions

Yesterday I went out to get the mail. There was a package waiting for me, and in it was a book I ordered with our photos from Lincolns birth.

I opened it, and immediately tears started forming. Remembering that day, and seeing photos of it in print brought back a wave of emotions. Then I turned to the page I was dreading. The page of my dad and my step mom looking at the photo of Lincoln on my phone.

I cried more, but this time for a different reason. Because my heart is broken. Because I will never get to see that face again. Because just 2 months ago, I got the phone call that he had passed in his sleep. He will never see Lincoln again, he will never be that excited grandpa again. He will never be the proud dad again.

As I wept over my book, I couldn’t help but feel all the emotions. I was being engulfed in life & death in one photo. Lincoln was just starting life, and my dads has just ended. How grateful and sad I am. How happy and completely torn apart I am. This book reminds me so many things.

I started Truth Sessions because I had lost my mom, and the photos that meant the most to me were the ones of her in her paint clothes, or gardening, or doing what she did best decorating. Those brought back memories and emotions. How I wanted to show families that their truth is perfect, because in the end it doesn’t matter if your bed is made or the dishes are done. It matters that you take the moment to document it, to live it, to love it. Because you could get that call tomorrow.

Truth Sessions are about showing your life. You’re real life. Showing the dirty, the clean, the dramatic, the boring. Its about showing yourself just how lovely you are. About showing your kids how they grew up in their everyday. Its about not being a instagram-able moment. Because those moments, those are the ones I long for. The ones with my mom at our butcher block in our kitchen, then ones with my dad sitting in my house blaring terrible loud music from his phone and bobbing his head back and forth in so much joy. The ones where I struggle to get out of bed with Lincoln because I’ve stayed up way to late and I have big bags underneath my eyes.

Guys, these are the moments. These are our real lives. Lets embrace it. Lets take it by the horns, and make memories. Lets print our photos, and show our kids how lovely our lives are. Lets take the mundane and make it beautiful.

Truth Sessions have come from the core of my soul. At 29 I look at my world, and its so different then what I imaged at 19. I didn’t think I would be married with a kid, living in Portland and I especially didn’t think I would be parentless. I didn’t think I could feel these feelings of deep sadness, and I didn’t know I could feel so much joy. My job is more then a job, its a heart thing. I’m doing this because this is what I believe. I believe in TRUTH. I believe in YOUR truth. I believe in real life. And I believe in showing it.

Thank You to all these families who’ve let me into their homes and share their truth with them. Its so beautiful.