It probably won't be the last time I'm asked the question this year.
And the answer is yes... Probably 20 or 30 times this year... yes.
Sure it's happened a several times a year in recent senior seasons. You know... the "I can't believe THAT kid is a senior" type card that hits us all sometimes.
But if you're wondering if this year... the Class of 2015 is different. It is.
Those that know me know that I never been one to pull any punches. You know where I stand. I speak from the heart. Honest words... even when they might get me in trouble.
But I'm not shy to admit that this class is special.
Speaking as a father, rather than just the photographer, having your first born, and all of her friends, inch closer to graduation... it makes this class unique to me personally. All the little league games... the bike rides... the orientations... the birthday parties... Somehow when I look through the lens, it's hard not seeing little turds singing their hearts out at the 3rd grade Christmas Concert, rather than facing the reality of the young adults that they've become.
So when Terri Westendorf came in the door Monday morning and immediate asked, "isn't this weird for you this year?" The answer was yes... and you'll have to forgive me if you hear the familiar refrain over and over this summer and fall.
The latest installment of Bryan-Waxing-Poetic came in the form of Terri's daughter, Gerrie. When my wife and I first moved to LeGrand to start our lives together in 1994, we bought a little yellow three bedroom ranch on the north end of Drury Lane. Directly across the street sat another ranch home owned by Terri and her husband, Tony. Not sure how one end of one lane could contain so much dripping sarcasm, but it did. A couple years later we moved a stones throw away to our current location, but that didn't stop our daughters from becoming friends.
My wife used to call Gerrie and Breanna "The Schemers" because they were always planning something after school everyday. Back and forth they would go, cutting through old Harold Downs' property as they bounced from house to house doing what little girls do... playing Barbies and annoying their brothers.
I affectionately have always called Gerrie, "Big Ger." An oxymoron of epic proportions, Gerrie has never been anything remotely close to big. Always the tiniest lil' thing... with a high pitched voice to match.... I just couldn't help myself to call her that. She'd always look at me after I'd call her that, put her hands on her hips and wrinkle her nose as if to say, "Stick it Mr. Photographer Butthead Man." Not sure where she'd get THAT from. (Terri... cough, cough) But, I digress.
So, if I get a little more emotional about seniors like this, you're just gonna have to understand.
Still, umm.... vertically challenged? Still beltin' out that little voice a couple octaves higher than most... Still sarcastic and sassin' back and forth with her mom... Not much has changed really... just a few grades have been passed, and Gerrie has decided she wants to be a teacher, just like her mom.
I did learn a few things that I didn't know about Miss Westendorf. Like her love for snowboarding, and I got to help her bust out some sweet vinyl albums from back in the day (Barry Gibb aint got nuthin on this soprano) :).
It's still early on in this travel town memory lane that the Class of 2015 is sure to be for me all year long, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Whether it's the fact they're coming to me because they want killer senior images... or that they wouldn't have it any other way than to go to "Breanna's Dad," or maybe a combination... it doesn't really matter. It's gonna be one I'll never forget... and I hope they don't either.
Thanks, Big Ger. :)
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