During the summer of my second year of university, an interesting turn of events had me traveling across Western Canada.  For a little over two months, I drove along the ocean…through the mountains…and ended up in the prairies before flying back to Ontario.  Sometime in late August of that year, I found myself in Saskatchewan at a festival called Buffalo Days.  It was – essentially – a regional fair.  It had rides, agricultural exhibits and copious amounts of a sugar swirled into cotton form.  It was fantastic!

On the last evening of the festival, I was sitting on a bench near the entrance waiting for a friend of mine to arrive.  And as I waited, I spotted this little girl.  She couldn’t have been more than five or six years old and she was walking with a tall, dark haired guy in his mid-twenties.  They were waiting in line to go on the Ferris wheel and both of them were wearing glittery red bobbles on their head.  Then, just when I thought the scene couldn’t get any more adorable, she looked up at him, wrapped her arms around his leg and said “I love that you’re my Daddy!”  He then smiled, held on tightly to her hand and replied “I love being your Daddy!”

Ugh! Insert a melting heart here!

It was at this moment when I first realized that nothing is more handsome than a man with his little girl!!!  Especially if he’s wearing red bobbles on his head!  No word of a lie…I would have made out with him right there on the spot if the opportunity had presented itself!!

But aside from wanting to jump this gorgeous guy…I can’t even begin to tell you how much I have thought of that little girl since then.  I’ve wondered where she is…what she is doing…and who she has become.  I’ve wondered all this time because that moment was quite pivotal for me as a girl in my early twenties…

Having been in a long term relationship at the time, marriage was obviously beginning to make its way to the forefront of my mind.  I began to consider a life spent with someone else and what that would mean.  But up until that time, I had only considered the implications as they related to me.  Up until then, I always knew that I wanted to marry a man of conviction…a man of humility…a man who would be my best friend.  But on that day…watching that little girl…I realized that I also wanted to marry a man who would be a great father.

And on the day that I married that man, I sincerely thought that I couldn’t possibly be anymore in love than I already was at that time.

But I was wrong.

The day that our children were born…I fell in love with my husband all over again.  And I’ve never been more in love with him than I have been while watching him be a father.

The following images are a bit different than what I would normally take.  For starters, I was trying out something new.  In some ways it worked…in others ways, it didn’t.  But I’ve been trying to push myself…challenge myself…remind myself that the learning should never end.  Ten days ago, I would never have posted them because I would have felt insecure about their imperfections.  But recent experiences have taught me that it’s grace that is essential to growth…not perfection.  So this is me; learning new things…trying new things…and being okay with new things.

Secondly, I deliberately chose for these to be so bright because that is exactly how I see my husband and the two beauties that we created together…as the shimmering lights in my life.  They shine…they radiate…they make it impossible for any darkness to prevail.  The more we walk through this life together…the more I fall in love with him.  This man of conviction…this man of humility…my best friend and the greatest father in the world.

In photos, overexposure may be considered a technical flaw…but in life…you can never shine too bright…