AUSTIN FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER:  MIRROR LAKE EXTENDED FAMILY SESSION

Saturday October 27th, 2018

These grandkids are so lucky, and they probably don't even know it. 

All nine of them live here... all in the same city.  They get to see each other (almost) every weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  And they're all pretty close in age, about a decade from the oldest to the youngest, so each child has a cousin to play with.  How special for them to grow up together being friends, with such a tight-knit family!

What's even more amazing is that these families are not even originally from Texas, but have chosen to move here, all together.  While most of us let work or lifestyle choices dictate where we settle, these families have deliberately chosen community and family above all other things.  They've chosen to stay together... to find jobs and homes near one another so that they can have this:   this unbreakable, dependable family community.

I love the idea of communities, families, and friendships that "stick".  Relationships that are stable and unchanging, that have been built over several years, and which you can trust to always be there.  Often, cultivating these types of relationships takes an active choice, and sometimes it involves forsaking some of our  preferences.  But I look at this family, who I was so lucky to get to work with.  And I look at my own family, my own friends, and my own community.  And I'm reminded that it's worth it. 

Thank you, Knuth family, for reminding me that, in both big and little decisions in life, I can CHOOSE to foster community and relationships.  I can choose time with my family, my neighbors, my friends... and all those little details, like where to live or where to work, will work out themselves.