But also a thief.
What a way to start my very first blog post right?! I promise I'm not a gloomy as you may think.
Let me tell you my story.
I'm no one special. I've lived a pretty normal (or "normal") life. I don't remember any significant events that made me want to preserve time.
Fast forward to my most recent years. It started with when a good friend of mine from high school passed away unexpectedly. Now I’ve never dealt with death. I don’t know how to respond. I was in shock at first, then I went to her funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Thats when it hit me like a ton of bricks. That was the first time I started to have this thought of how fast time moves and how it can feel like it can come to a complete stop…but the clock keeps ticking.
Then my mother had a HUGE mass removed from her abdomen area. I had a feeling that she would be okay. That everything would come back as non-cancerous. But…that mass was HUGE y’all. That’s another moment when I was like “Okay, I hear you”.
Next, my grandmother finds out she has breast cancer. Stage 1, so thankfully they caught it early. She’s a tough cookie though, so again I had a feeling she would be okay. However, that voice was back there creeping up even more. I said “Okay, okay. I hear you, but what do you want me to do about it? What am I supposed to get out of this?”
In the midst of all of this, I felt lost and trying to decide on what “niche” I want to focus on for my photography business. Because let me tell you, I HATE not knowing. I wanted SO BAD to narrow down on a niche so I can devote my TIME to serving that audience that I want to so badly. But for the life of me I could not make up my mind.
Then my husband’s “mom” (you know your best fried, who’s more of like a sister, her mom becomes your mom) passes away. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I cried. My husband cried. I didn’t know her for very long. Every time we’d visit before moving to Maine, we’d always stop in and see her. Then we moved up here. We were SO excited for her to teach our children how to ride horses and learn more about work ethic…
Then to top it all off the paper mill my husband used to work at blew up. Not all of it, but enough to cause a concern for the chemicals in the air. Thankfully my husband wasn’t working that day and thankfully NO ONE was harmed when the explosion happened, but that’s what I mean. Everything that’s happened has been too close. All while during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is when I realized that time is precious but also a thief. That was when I realized my audience I want to serve.
Families.
But not JUST family portraits. Everything that involves family. From weddings-BIRTH-Fresh 48-Newborn-Family portraits & everything in-between.
I’ve chosen to do this because time is precious and a thief. So much can still happen and the worst part is you don’t know when. This is why I preserving my time with my family is important to me. Now, I want to return it to you ♥️
Think about it. When was the last time you had family portraits done? When your youngest was born and now they’re 5 years old? Are you a new Mama and thinking about getting newborn pictures done, but don’t know if you should? Just do it! Don’t let the fear drive you to not get what you want and deserve.
Until next time, I’ll be thinking about you. I’ll be thinking about you and hoping you realize you deserve to have those family pictures no matter what.
Warmly,
Ashlie
