A little life through photos.

Our children are our lives.  We bring them into this world and they give us joy.  From the moment of infancy where they stare back at you you’re hooked forever.  We shape them, whether intentionally or not, into a young adult.  What happens from there, it’s on their terms

This past week my daughter and her husband moved to St. Louis.  God bless them both because they’ll have a better life and I am so happy for their success.  All the stars aligned for such a wonderful opportunity for him and her that you can only feel fantastic about what they can both accomplish together.  It makes my heart full.

The move made me reflect, through photographs that I dug out and organized, on moments of her life.  A photo is only a second in time but creates a heart memory for us.  You forget how perfect their laughs were, and how precious that little face was.  Plus it helps you remember all the dresses you made her.  Man I made a lot of them.

Dance was always her love.  At 2 and a half she danced with an octogenarian, I kid you not, at the Lake Zurich recreation department. She has sneakers on because I couldn’t find ballet slippers at the time.  Bad mommy.

We were good about church with the kids.  Lake Zurich was a growing town way back then and we often sat in the gym for Mass.  I loved seeing all the little ones so dressed up.  Chrissy didn’t mind wearing hats, well not too much.  Honestly, what was I thinking with the little elastic under her chin.

I did make a lot of Halloween costumes.  The bunny costume was the first one in a long line of them.  Good thing it had bunny mittens because it was pretty darn cold that year.  Of course for her January birthday the pink bike with training wheels in the kitchen was an absolute must.

This photo is one of my favorites in the wingback chair we had.  She was always happy.

From a young age Chrissy liked her clothing.  First day of school you had to be looking special.  She couldn’t wait to wear her new outfit.  In second grade, just before school started, we visited JC Penny.  She found a cute little skirt that was black and white checkered.  It was full price and she knew we didn’t purchase full price clothing.  She asked the clerk, she’s seven yeas old at that moment in time, when they were going to have their sale.  I should have known then that retail was always going to be her passion.

In kindergarten she lost all four front teeth.  You can see the top one is about to go in her class picture.  We finally did put her in a real dance studio when she was a pre-schooler.  She danced as a bee, and then had more sparkled rolls on the stage.  She danced for 15 years and taught dance for two or three.  It’s so fun to see the full circle. 

We moved to Algonquin in ’93 when she entered 2^nd grade This photo was third grade and for the life of me, I can’t figure out where we were.  It looks to be a sporting event of some kind.  It was one of her cuter moments.  She loves the Cubs. 

Roller blading was huge when she was younger.  Constantly up and down the sidewalks.

Dance was a much larger part of her life then, she was asked to join pre-company in third grade. It  was a big accomplishment to make it to company.  She really took it seriously. 

Junior high came and went as she kept up with her dance.  Her friends made the ultimate sacrifice to watch her 3 hour recitals.  God bless those girls.

Before you knew it she was in high school.  On her first day she posed with Lady.  That year she was on the summer swim team, participated in volley ball camp, made the freshman team and danced.   Her dance studio always went to New York every year.  Her sophomore year they asked her to go, but I wasn’t ready to send her then.  But her junior year and senior year she took New York by storm to attend master classes and Broadway shows.  Heck, I wanted to be her.

On her 16^th birthday we took a load of 16 year olds to Ed Dbevics.  The young lady next to her is Tara.  She was her maid of honor.

One of the things she really enjoyed was Reading Buddies through Interact, a high school service organization.  She became president of the organization her senior year.

And who could forget all the Bataille appearances in the Barrington 4^th of July parades?

Before you knew it she graduated, attended North Central College, ECC and Roosevelt University.  She was published in a book where they attended the 2004 Election Party in Grant Park.  You could hear it in her voice how excited she was to be covering it.  I have the book which sits on my table in the living room.

Last year she was married and this year they cut the top of their wedding cake at our house at their going away party.

Time slips away quickly.  Moments of love are locked away in our hearts forever.  Nothing should ever be taken for granted, especially a parents love for their children.  It just grows deeper every day.