on life + being an aunt

Within a matter of 3 days, I witnessed a birth, a wedding, attended the funeral of a 2-month old, celebrated my mom’s birthday and took care of my sick grandma. It was a whirlwind of emotions that I hardly processed until we sat quietly in our apartment on Sunday afternoon.

As my husband wisely put it, this past weekend was one of those weekends when you realize… “it’s not about me.”

Life is about celebrating the happy times and mourning the hard times with loved ones. It’s crying tears of joy and carrying each other through the tough days that seem like too much to bear. It’s about bringing home carryout, taking time for a phone call, watching each other’s kids, driving through the night and putting on another pot of coffee to continue the conversation. Life isn’t about me or you… it’s about us. Family, friends, co-workers… we are all in this together and this weekend was a good reminder of that.

Rewind to a few weeks ago. My sister-in-law, Laura, asked me to be at the hospital to photograph their new baby’s birth story (see her maternity session here). We packed a “hospital” bag, prepped the camera and kept the phones near us so that we could leave at any time. And then, we waited… and waited… and waited…

Finally, THAT phone call came last week… Wednesday night at 11:30pm. We loaded up the car and hit the road. Unfortunately, due to a minor blizzard, our 2 hour drive took 3.5 hours and we arrived at the hospital at 3:35am… 9 minutes after our precious little nephew entered the world.

Shortly after I met this little one, they whisked him away to a “transition” room to monitor his breathing and heart rate. Laura asked me to follow him and stay with him so that he wouldn’t be alone. Spending the first hour of life with this little baby was one of the most joyful times of my life. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it over and over again… I love being an aunt :)

World, meet the newest addition to my family. His name is Judah Alan… and he is perfect.