09/08/2021
When my phone rang and I saw Benās name I thought, he must be making a trip home. It must be time for a trip to Pizza Planet (Marchelloniās). Instead, we caught up a bit and he asked me if Iād photograph his family at the lake where they had a tree planted in memory of his mom. Of course I said yes!
Ben and I were friends through high school. We drove to a college speech class together after we both had graduated. I always spent hours on my speeches, stayed up late writing and re-writing, and stuttered when it was my turn to present. Ben on the other hand, wrote his speeches with a pencil in my car on the way there and always aced it.
I met Benās parents when we went to homecoming together (my only homecoming date ever). His dad was cool and his mom was so kind. Ben really is quite the combination of the two of them. After college I met the rest of his siblings, Jolene and Katy who are a couple of sweethearts. And Zach, who made fun of someone when they were being mean to me the first time I met him, which made him instantly pretty great in my book lol.
These guys gathered from 3 states for this photo. Together. With their momās tree encompassing them. Iāll be honest, I had tears in my eyes for this one. Because theyāve been through it. And theyāre still standing strong. Because theyāve had the courage to go out and live their lives regardless. Because theyāre not too busy for each other, as they know better than many, that our time is limited. And their mom, I know, is so proud of all of them.
