i.love.this.kid.

Everyone who’s known me for any decent length of time knows I’m not a “kid” person. I don’t take to kids very well (or at least, I never believed I did), I don’t hang out with a lot of kids, and the only real face-time I’d spent with any kid was my own…until I became a photographer.

Now, to my family’s surprise, I am a “kid” person. I make faces; I climb trees; I chew my food and open my mouth; I stomp in puddles. I do all the things that I used to do as a kid, but stopped when I became an adult. So basically, I have thrown the adult rules out the window and have started spending a lot more time being a kid, even when there aren’t any other kids around.

This kid is Gracie. Her parents, Evan and Anne, are awesome. They’ve done an amazing job raising this kid; she’s curious, funny, uninhibited and honest. All the things that we should all carry over into adulthood, although few of us do.

I’ve photographed Gracie every year around her birthday, so I see her once a year and though I doubt she remembers me, each time we meet we become better friends than we were the time before. This year was especially fun; she’s three years old now; that age where you can have fun just squishing your toes in the sand or lifting up rocks or picking up seaweed and making funny faces (just a couple of the fun times we had at the beach last weekend).

Another game she taught me, a most awesome game I have to admit, is to grab the hand of whatever adult is standing next to you and just yank. Pull with all your might, give it all you’ve got and yank that adult off balance and when they look surprised and wonder why the hell you’re doing something so pointless & ridiculous, just run off squealing to find some more seaweed.

That’ll leave ‘em guessing.