That's my fancy new logo. My husband was smart enough to befriend the nicest guy in his office who also happens to be a brilliant graphic designer. And in exchange for photos of his family in perpetuity he designed a logo for me. We had a brief email exchange in which I said very little about actual design. I wrote of mood, feeling. And somehow he was able to cull,
from a sentence I sent him in an email, this logo that says everything I want it to say about me and my business. He's a genius.
Long overdue and with a heart full of gratitude and humility I arrived at their charming home to begin the first of many gazillion photo shoots with their family.
This is C. A completely normal 8 year old kid. Active, healthy, good student, loves his dog and sports and video games.
What is not at all obvious from looking at him is that he is a miracle of modern science. You see just a week or so after a perfectly normal 6 month old check up little baby C was in the PICU on a ventilator. So sick there were periods of time when they wondered if he would make it. And after running a series of tests and trying to determine what was going on with the little guy they discovered he had a rare genetic condition called
XHIGM Syndrome. So they were faced with not only the challenge of getting him through his current bout of
pneumocystis carinii pneumonia but also looking at an uncertain future even if he were to survive.
Ironically enough, baby C was taken off the respirator after 3 weeks and breathing successfully on his own on September 11, 2001. That's a date that means something to all of us. Can you imagine all this family was facing that day?
So he was in the clear for now but there was still the genetic condition to worry about which basically compromises the immune system. The cure for the condition? A full stem cell bone marrow transplant. Neither parent was a complete match. Their only hope was to have another baby who could be a match. They turned to IVF and some mad scientists. Two rounds and 27 embryos and
only 1 was even viable. And that special one just so happened to be a complete match, a girl (girls are carriers and don't have the condition) and, lucky for her and her future, she wasn't even a carrier.
Meet 6 year old E, lifesaver extraordinaire....
E just explodes with life. She has enough not only for her and her brother, but for her entire family, block, town, city, state and country. She's joyful, enthusiastic and quite possibly the silliest little thing I've ever met.
When E was a year old she was able to give a successful bone marrow transplant to her brother which effectively cured him of the condition.
And it's clear she feels some ownership.
It's impossible to imagine all this family has been through. They've each had their own unique experiences and journeys and jobs to do. But having recently celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the success of the treatment, their life is simply
normal. A gift and a blessing they hoped and prayed for in their darkest days.
And C & E are like any other siblings. Rough housing, annoying one another, playing together. But there's something between them you won't find in other families. A quiet undercurrent of all they've been through. Some intangible bond that is rather breathtaking to witness.
Miraculous aren't they?
Meet Jacob. Can you say sweet?!?
It's no surprise really. His mother and my husband went to business school together (swanky elite b-school no less) and she was commonly known among our crowd as the nicest person in their class. I don't think anyone would dispute that title. So I have no idea why I was so taken aback by how sweet her little baby Jacob is and how quickly I just fell.in.love! Apples don't fall far you know.
Knowing his mother I should have expected that. The other thing I didn't expect was that she would have her act so completely pulled together. Showered. With make up. And clothes without baby drool and spit on them.
She looked so pretty I just wanted to take her picture all morning. Seriously. I had to restrain myself and focus on that baby. But I was so mesmerized. And it's not just that her body is at this perfect voluptuous shape, and that she has the most amazing blue eyes you've ever seen, and a sparkly smile that lights up a room. It's that she's literally glowing from the inside. The love she has for motherhood and this baby and this family of hers comes shining out of her. She has a sincerity and a confidence and such joy that she brings to every single little task of parenting. I truly felt like I was under a spell and when I left I was walking on air. So moved and inspired and, well, HAPPY.
And my very favorite picture from the shoot.....
I think these two have a magical future ahead of them. With this much love and sweetness, how can they not?
