Emotional Whirlwind

This time of year is such a whirlwind of emotions for me and this year has been even more hectic with the fact that my father has been in hospital or rehab since November 30th.  Trying to balance all of this has left me less than at my best and at times questioning so much of what is important in this life. 

Today we take McKenzie to the airport along with her beloved feline friend Gus.  This cat who I laughingly refer to as the neighborhood gigolo as often after he has gone missing for a day, he returns smelling of perfume that is often favored by older women.  Gus leaves behind his best friend Buzz and we will just have to see how it all goes.  I am delighted that McKenzie will be home again soon for my birthday in February and if the two cats just aren’t doing well apart she will then take Buzz, too.  There are bound to be tears at the airport as we miss having Mac nearby and that silly Gus has been with us for over 3 years and with all partings we will be sad.

Megan thankfully has the week off and is in Hawaii with her family.  That doesn’t stop the work of Soul of course and today we have Michelle photographing in Kent and my assistant and Soul photographer, Kelly will be working with a family at Ronald McDonald House.  Tomorrow Bryan is photographing in West Seattle, so we are continuing to be very busy with new families.  Dawnelle is graciously checking our phones this week to be sure that any emergency shoots are scheduled.  We are so very thankful to have Dawnelle as one of our most loyal and helpful volunteers, if you have met her you know that special magic she brings to every situation.

Its possible that today I will get to see another of our amazing volunteers, Susan Tarling who is in Vancouver right now visiting family.  She is the Soul mom from Edmonton that I met when I photographed her son Brandon in Edmonton almost 8 years ago.  She and her friends have been making the birthday cards that we send to each family on the date of their child’s birth the first year after their Soul shoot.  The cards are beautiful and meaningful and we are so thankful.  Susan also organized and hosted me for the trip this year to Edmonton to work with new families.  I am once again sharing the image of Brandon that was captured at the beginning of Soul’s existence as it has remained one of those images that is loved by so very many.  .  If I don’t get to see Susan there will be a thoughtful drop-off as she kindly saves me Canadian bottle caps.  Susan and Andrew are beloved friends and I am honored to have their help and support for Soulumination.

Megan and I are very grateful to the addition of Soul photographer, Amanda to our office volunteer staff.  She has moved nearby and is going to be a regular in the office.  In January Lew will be working to set up a more solid volunteer base and our goal is to have someone scheduled to work or be on call for each weekday so that Megan can feel comfortable with the pace of the bookings.  We have seen a big jump in the number of requests and in order to maintain sanity and serve at the highest level it will be imperative to work toward a solid base of trained volunteers.

As I have said we are thrilled with the results of this year’s artist sale.  With that fact in mind we are hoping to host an even more successful sale in 2012 to try to keep pace with the funds that will be needed as Soul reaches more families.  With that in mind we will need more green’s, more volunteers for every phase of the event, possibly a few new artists, and especially we would love you to ask your artist friends if they would be willing to donate a piece or two to the sale.  One of the reasons we raised more money was the artists who stepped forward in a big way to donate truffles, jewelry, quilts, birdhouses, dolls and the felted pincushions and lovely handknits that flew out of here.  Soon we will have some of the amazing folk art bird houses available for sale on this website.  We are grateful to each and everyone of you who worked so hard to make this happen, especially Diane.  We are delighted that we can provide a place for local artists to show and sell that allows them some brisk sales during the holidays.

I close looking forward to a new year, grateful for my two lovely daughters and husband and all the pets.  My big hope is that I will learn to let go of the stress and actually get some sleep in 2012.  In love and peace, Lynette