Anonymous & What I Know For Sure

I got the email last January.  It was on what felt like day 78 of snow days during the Polar Vortex.  It was cold and dark and we had played every damn game in our house and listened to Let It Go 5,865 times.  I got the email and I cried.  

The email said "that someone bought you a family session" with a photographer.  Just because they thought we were a nice family.  That someone was named anonymous.  

I cried because it was so nice and thoughtful and sweet and amazing.  I cried because this wasn't something we could afford to do.  I cried because someone anonymous thought my family was pretty cool.   I cried because it felt good to be thought of and loved.  I cried because it was just so damn nice.

"What's wrong?," my kids asked after they realized I had stopped yelling at them to quit fighting.

"Nothing, I'm just so happy, people can be so nice," I said crying into my hands.  

Fast forward six months and we finally sat down for our family session with Sarah Beth Photography.

We loaded up the kids and had our picture taken as a family.  As you can imagine it wasn't calm or quiet or fancy, because not one of us is calm, quiet or fancy.  Instead it was loud and wrestle-y and some of us forgot our shoes and some of us smelled from football practice.  But not one of those things bothered me, it's just who we are.  

This is our special kind of chaos.

Luckily we had a compassionate, funny and easy-going photographer, Sarah, and she wasn't too appalled by our family.  She even told us we weren't the rowdiest family she'd photographed, but I think she might have lied which just made me love her more.

Sarah was a miracle worker.  She patiently talked to my kids and made them smile and laugh.  The shots she got made me cry again.  The shots captured my kids' personalities right now so perfectly.

To learn more about Sarah Beth Photography click here.

I'm not sure how anonymous feels, but I can tell you how I feel...I feel loved and hopeful and grateful.  I want to do what I can to help others know this feeling.  

In a world that feels lost and in pain and angry, I want to make small differences where I can to help people feel good--paying for people in drive-thrus, leaving a note for the kind waitress, telling people thank you more, reaching out to my neighbors, telling the overwhelmed mom or dad at the grocery store that their kids are adorable. In a world where I feel powerless about so much I know for sure that I want to pay forward kindness and love and hope one small difference at a time.

Thank you anonymous.  Thank you Sarah.  

Here's what else I know for sure this week:

• I loved Jimmy Fallon's tribute to Robin Williams.

• I am going to learn to sew.  And when I do, I am going to sew all the patterns from the 1970s that my mother in law gave me last week.  Yup, I'm bringing bell bottoms back.

• I WILL have 100 YouTube Subscribers before the first day of school (September 2).  Okay, at least I hope I do.  Help me out.  Click here to subscribe.  And here's sort of a re-introduction to my YouTube channel.

(Click here to watch.)

• Sunshine makes almost everything better. At the very least it makes my mood 100 times better.

• I will be watching Dallas on Monday night.  Ya'll Southfork was on fire in the mid-season cliff hanger...not my beloved Southfork.  I have to see what will happen.  New episodes are back on TNT on Monday night. It's good soapy escapism fun.

• Summer is not over and I am still forcing my family to eat dinner on our porch.  I love my front porch.

What do you know for sure this week, right now?  Share it with me in the comments or on my Facebook page.

To learn more about Sarah Beth Photography click here and check out her Facebook page.  She is a miracle worker with a lot of patience and a very talented photographer.

Come play with me on Instagram, click here.