Kindness doesn’t always show up when I expect it. I’m learning I can’t control that—only how much space I give it, and who I choose to remain.

When I was a teenager, Dad and I were at a grocery store checkout where the cashier was having a hard day. Dad met her with kindness anyway,. I asked him how he could do that and he told me, “Her bad mood doesn’t have to change who I am.”

I’ve carried that lesson with me ever since. Some days it’s easier than others. But it’s still the way I want to move through the world.

This photograph was taken nearly twenty years ago at Tahquamenon Falls, on a cold winter day when the footing wasn’t easy. Dad was always willing to come along when I headed out with the camera. I think of it now as a reminder that I’m still walking with his guidance, even now.

#Grief #Kindness #Photography
#WalkingForward #TodaysSmallMoment
#Michigan #UpperPeninsula

Today’s small moment.

This photograph marks the last time Dad and I crossed into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula together, driving north while my brother was in the hospital. We didn’t know then that he would die a couple of weeks later, or that this trip would later mark the point between life before my brother’s death and everything that came shortly thereafter.

We were together, sharing the same road and the same concern. I don’t usually have the chance to slow down like this, but traffic coming off the Mackinac Bridge that day gave me the pause I needed to notice it—and to take the photo.
#TodaysSmallMoment #GriefAndLove #MichiganMemories #MackinacBridge #QuietMoments

Today’s small moment — standing still just after sunrise on a cold morning, watching winter fog drift across the James River along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The world felt hushed, as if the day was taking a slow breath before fully waking. Moments like this remind me how much calm can be found simply by noticing what’s already there.

#TodaysSmallMoment #MorningLight #WinterQuiet #NaturePhotography #BlueRidgeParkway