These are the women I look to when I want to know what friendship is. What laughter is. What kindness is. What faith is. For years they have taught at the same Preschool week after week and shown countless children what joy looks like. They love endlessly and are loved endlessly.
Also, they happen to be very fun and very pretty. Which is why it took all of two minutes to take their picture.
Melissa Dow: teacher, reader, occasional rapper and Bohemian Rhapsody singer. The two of us embarked on our photo-shoot adventure on a surprisingly warm day for our little Northwestern town. I could tangent off into cliche observations of the brilliant dappled leaves (They really were beautiful) but I won’t. Instead I will make an observation about the lady making funny faces in the majestic autumn leaves. Put simply, Melissa Dow is hilarious. My camera could hardly keep up with her spontaneity. She read to me in Latin, rolled various accents off her tongue and the only legitimate instruction I had to give her was, “Stop talking! Your mouth is in weird shapes in all the pictures.” But what grand pictures they were. I’ve never had such ease getting shots that really showcase a person’s vibrance. Even with a book in front of her nose, Melissa could never be hidden. The more she reads, the more she knows, and the more she knows, the more she wants to tell everyone about it. As Melissa and so many other brilliant individuals before her have shown, reading is sexy. Case closed.
She’s a stunning smile in a red raincoat. I’m an art lover with a pen in her hand. Of course I had to draw her!
Using colored pencils, I did my best to capture a moment of Lizzy’s laughter. I have no experience with this medium and felt like an incompetent child most of the time I was working on the project. Still, the colors were a lot of fun to play with and even though it was a challenge, it depicts what it was meant to: a vibrant girl enjoying life in the Northwest. It doesn’t get much better than that.
where we will grow 