There's a wonderful feature on iMac's that takes all of your photos in iPhoto and creates a collage of one image slowly zooming out and making that one image clear, then repeating the process. As I have been nursing, watching tv, etc. since I've been home I've found myself staring at those images and just letting it take me back to each one of those moments in time. Like a window into time reminding me of how I felt and everyone I shared it with.
Let me take a step back: I absolutely hate when Paul travels...as we both find the greatest comfort in the downtime at nights snuggled up on the couch, watching our favorite shows, discussing the day, etc...just genuinely enjoying each other's company.
...so as I've been watching these images flash before me randomly on the iMac I realize how joy-filled my life has become! I look at these pictures and see such an amazing transformation within myself. Just a few years ago I was merely a girl hopeful that something existed in this world with a modicum of happiness that I hoped for in life. We all have experienced hardships and my story is no different but I have come to understand in my grand old age of 29 ;) that most of my hardships were created by a situation I put myself into. A relationship, a lease, a job, etc., etc. However, right before I met Paul I vowed not to let that be the case any longer. Not to let myself be a victim of my own situation, to always do right by others and by yourself, that no matter how difficult or no matter how patient you must be the end result will be ever better in your favor for it. I'm not saying I'm perfect because I'm human and have many flaws but I have tried my darnest to be the best person that I can be. At times it can be hard to wait or to do the right thing (at least the best thing I thought) but I have to say my happiness is proof that something about my change in mindset must have worked. I vowed that my relationships with EVERYONE were important and that I would prove that to them over and over again. I am a 100% believer that the best relationships require the most work! You have to continue to put down great top soil, water daily and fertilize seasonally in order to have a luminous garden to enjoy. ...and while some of my relationships still need more 'tending to' I'm so happy that I am who I've become today!
I think my immediate family relationships have been the most improved of all! The relationship with my mom has flourished and I now consider her one of my closest confidants where we wanted to kill each other when I was 16. I am still a 'daddy's girl' but have found a greater friendship with my father than was there before. ...and while the relationships with my sisters has been rocky at times I can say that I've found the greatest of friends in each of them at times and continue to work on our communication, honesty and openness with each other! Family is sooo important to me and I strive to improve on that constantly!
...and I have to say that my reward has been granted 1000-fold for anything I could have imagined in finding love! I've said before and I'll say again that I didn't know a love existed like the love I share with Paul. I look at these pictures and just see the amazing impact that the love of one man has had on this simple girl, now turned into his wife and the mother of his child. Could there be a more special thing that we've created together...a beautiful baby girl with our shared features and I'm sure personality and quirks. What an amazing journey that I did not know I was embarking on that impactful day we met at Pei Wei. :)
A picture is worth a thousand words and I think these 3 pictures say it all for me!
1) Our first date I set up, a cooking class making filet mignon and bananas foster
2) Our wedding day, getting ready with the girls
3) The day I gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Norah Renee St. Pierre
So I look at these 3 images as a microcosm representing these specific points in time in my life and realize that my life is truly a fairytale (at least my own fairytale). I couldn't be more grateful, happy or blessed in this world!
Truly a transformation from a young woman...to a wife...to a mother!
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