portrait session with nicky

There isn't a manual for motherhood.  It is not a one size fits all deal.  No universal S, M, L, or XL here. I say, throw your guidebooks away.  They are full of dribble and will underscore the job you have taken on.  Perhaps the sweetest measurement will take years to cultivate.  When you (with authority) pause and say, "you know what my mother always says..."  It is then, that you will understand that the job never ends.  There are days you will be right.  Days when you are wrong.  But it's the big picture that matters, full of tiny little dots of moments and memories that you have forgotten, each creating its own unique museum worthy Seurat.   This is motherhood.  You hope for the best and close your eyes and leap as far as their imagination will take you.  Holding, not only their little hands in yours, but also firmly grasping your own mother's hand.  Your guidebook isn't something you can take out of the library.  And maybe she wasn't always right.  But you will be the judge of that.  Take what she has given you.  Mold it to what you think it should be and do your best because that's how she would have done it as well.  Motherhood is a narrative that hasn't ended.  Started long ago, you now make your own chapter.