Cutest Namesake Ever

4 Cameras, 3 Boys, and 2 Taras descended upon Thanks-giving Point Gardens this evening to partake of their $2 Tuesdays.




As is often the case, there is a bit of a back story to this story. . .
Several months ago we had our old friends the Grays over for dinner. Well, most of them anyway. Divorce and a new wife changed the line-up in the Gray household. Dave and Bill became great friends while they worked together. Melinda and I were close friends from the summer before I left for B.Y.U. We were all very close, almost like family. When Melinda went into labor for the home-birth of Rhiannon, Bill and I packed up our young William, and hopped a flight that very morning to Portland where they lived at the time to be there to attend. Moments before we left, they surprised us by announcing they wanted Rhiannon's middle name to be "Tara" after me. Right then and there, I fell in love and Rhiannon and I were bonded forever.

Things happen and times change. Melinda moved away with the children and the marriage fell apart. We all lost that close connection we once had, only seeing each other rarely at special occasions. Until this dinner party. Rhiannon grabbed her family's camera and started snapping away, showing me proudly each shot. She offered to paint me a picture as a present and promptly went home to work on it. I have been thinking about her all summer and arranged to take her to take photos with my camera at Thanksgiving Point. We traded, her painting for a photography field trip. She was in heaven. I gave her a few pointers and she went to town, shooting everything that bloomed or buzzed.
My boys were totally inspired as well and used the other two cameras I brought as well as a cell phone camera to capture what they were seeing. I have never seen them interested in taking pictures in that way, and have promised to take just them back soon to have a turn with my camera as well.

Forever connected, that little Rhiannon and I bound by our common name and love of photography.