It all started the Autumn after I graduated from University.  I had just endured the worst summer of my life and I was struggling to figure things out after having been a student since the age of five.  So after what felt like four months of sleeping, I decided to wake up, get dressed and start living again.  To help me do so, I began creating a list of 100 Things I Want To Do Before I Die {or, as the movie industry would later dub it – The Bucket List}.  I had no intention of dying any time soon but I certainly had every intention of living…and this list was going to act as a reminder of the many ways in which I could do so!  Some of the things on my list were easier to complete; run a marathon {check!}, see David Usher sing St. Lawrence River live {check!}, own a house one day {check!}…while others provided a bit more of a challenge; be on the cover of a magazine {check!}, travel to Australia {check!}, stare up at the Southern Cross {check!}.  But the point was that I didn’t just want to live life…I wanted to experience life.  Vividly.  Passionately.  Adventurously.

Giving birth to our son a little over a year ago was – by far – the most intense, remarkable and miraculous experience of my life.  The spectrum of emotion that my husband and I went through during that time will forever bring me to tears.  But there are also entire chunks of that twelve hour period that I don’t remember…moments that almost never existed to me.  So it was shortly after Hudson’s birth that I added a new challenge to my list…photographing the birth of a baby.  Not only did I want to be on the other side of this experience, but I wanted to provide another couple with the opportunity to remember it in a way that I couldn’t.

So, last fall, I posted on facebook my desire to cross this new item off my list and within minutes, Cynthia sent a quick message inviting me to join her and her husband during the birth of their second child.  And just like that…our little idea grew…anticipating logistics, getting permissions, coordinating schedules and doing our very best to plan the one occasion that couldn’t be planned!

Sure enough though, at 11am on Sunday morning, Dan and Cynthia gave me a call to let me know that things were underway…and so started our collective project.  But here’s the thing…I arrived at the hospital that morning with the intention of just documenting their experience and instead, I left about ten hours later seeing the world entirely differently.  I left having had my breath taken away by the extreme beauty of life.

Cynthia and Dan…thank you!  Thank you for sharing this immensely important time in your life with me.  Thank you for squeezing my hand as your son made his first appearance in this world.  Thank you for letting me hold your beautiful baby boy when he was just minutes old.  Thank you for giving me the experience of a lifetime!

xoxo