I was born & raised
in Florida, the beautiful, hot, humid sunshine state! I was born to Bruce & Kristen way back in the old days when people were
not offended by any and everything! They went on to have three more children
together {Molly, Bruce Jr. & Matthew)
before they divorced. Both of them remarried (and are still married to
these lovely people to this day). My dad had himself TWO more kids with my
step-mom Debbie (Jessica & Charles).
My mom & Jonny never had any more
children together, I think that when he met my single mom
& her four kids, he was totally satisfied with the sheer amount of
raising he'd have to do.
I had a pretty typical
American upbringing. Born in Gainesville, raised in Newberry until my
parents divorced. My mom remarried when I was in the 7th grade and they
moved us out to Chiefland. Newberry wasn't a very large town, but moving
to Chiefland was a whole different world to me. I finished growing up and
graduated from CHS (yee-haw).
One of my fondest memories from my childhood was when my stepdad Jonny used to
take us camping at Watermelon Pond, Rocky Creek & other strange places I
wasn't used to at the time. We'd ride airboats, 3 & 4 wheelers, swim
in the gulf, the pond & tubed. My sister Molly and I shared a room
when we were growing up, and it wasn't always fun, but for the most part, it
was also one of the best times of my life. We didn't have AC in our house
until 1990 and so we would often jump into each other's beds, point the
isolating fan directly on us and try to sweat ourselves to sleep. We'd
laugh, joke, fight, makeup & just enjoy each other's company. To this
day, we still remain very close though we do not get to spend as much time
together as I would like. She is a wonderful mother of three beautiful
children. Bruce is married now, to Colleen & they have amazing and
active children. Matthew is single but raising two firecrackers of his
own. Jessica also married with two kids. Charles is our only
holdout, single with no children (that we know of).
I myself have five
children total Teresa, Gavin, Weston, Xander & Olivia (typed out in the
order of when they were born to this world via my own body or of my heart).
Teresa was born in 1990 (the reason we finally got AC) when I was 16
years old. Yes, I am one of "those people". She was born
three months early at only 2.2 pounds via c-section. A fighter then and a
fighter now. She's smart, inquisitive, generous, empathetic, caring,
loving, adorable & sweet. She lives in Portland Oregon where she is a
stay-at-home mommy to my first grandchild, Oscar who is turning out to be just
like his sweet mama. Gavin was born in 1996 via c-section as well but was
full term. He's also smart, funny, loyal, and hard-working. He was
wiry from the day he was born, walking at only 7 months old, he is now in the
Army & stationed in North Carolina. Weston was also born via c-section
full term in 2002. He was a fat, happy & friendly baby.
Thoughtful & kind, he is now in high school; plays baseball &
video games. Xander was born of my heart but his birth was in 2003 when I
met Xander he was three; happy, active & shy. He has grown into a
handsome, strong, smart young man who is attending high school and plays
baseball! Olivia, also born from my heart in 2013. She is wild,
loving, tender & sweet. She is something lovely that came from
something ugly. More about that HERE! I love all five of these young people
with all my being and feel very lucky to have them as my own.
I have been taking pictures for as
long as I can remember, so putting it on the back burner was not an easy decision
for me to make.
When I was a kid I used to take sheets and hang them up on my brother's bunk
beds and force them to "model" in front of them for me. They
were not willing, but since they were much younger then I was-I got my way.
My sister Molly on the other hand, well since we were closer in age &
size-she didn't participate as much-hehe. As you can see from this photo,
I had mad skills back then (this is my brother Matting during one of his many
modeling sessions). Everything that I know about film or digital
photography was completely self-taught. I had to admit, I just never had
the extra money to take any classes-so it has taken me years to perfect my
"craft". I am hoping to fall back in love with
photography soon.
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