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Mother's Day Surprise!
Last week I was asked by my friend to help out with a super secret Mother's Day surprise. Of course I said yes! I was honored and excited for this opportunity. As a photographer you just never know what adventures will come your way. I have photographed the most touching, heartwarming, surprising, funny, weird, and loving moments. When I found out I was going to take part in a military family reunion I just knew I had to do it. Something in my heart said no matter what, I must do this good deed.
Here's the story. A second grader and his little brother had not seen their mom in a year. She is a nurse in the US Air Force and had been deployed to Afghanistan. Mom made arrangements with the school, W.H. Robinson in Winterville, NC, and teacher to surprise her adorable little boys during a class Mother's Day celebration. How perfect to reunite with her children for Mother's Day weekend. Friday afternoon the second graders hosted a Mother's Day party where the students got up in front of the class and their moms and read a poem about their mothers. Watching that alone was adorable! Lastly, having no idea what was about to happen, the son of the soldier read his poem and when he finished, Mom walked in the back door of the classroom. The look on his face was absolutely priceless! He was in utter shock, then immediately burst into tears and embraced his mom tightly. His little brother soon joined him and the three of them held each other and laughed and cried. The boys kept looking at their Mom like "I cannot believe you're here", followed by lots of smiles and tears. Of course there was not a dry eye in the room!
Lots of media were present so there was some time for interviews and photos. Then the family proceeded to the hallway where the school had gathered to cheer on Mom and thank her for her service. It was so amazing to see the school community come together in support of this sweet family.
I have cried taking photos many times...a groom watching his bride walk down the aisle, a mom and her baby, an engagement taking place, parent dances at a wedding...but nothing quite like this. I am grateful for this experience and will hold it in my heart forever. I had a hard time selecting photos to share, but here are some favorites from the day.
Mother's Day
Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day a national celebration in May 1914. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there!
I loved my childhood and grew up with fun, loving parents. My mom is the most selfless, caring, giving, strong, generous, kind, fun, loving person I will ever know. Besides my own mom, I have been surrounded by powerful, loving, kind women throughout my life. This includes grandmothers, aunts, cousins, friends of my mom, teachers, and mother and sisters in law. As an adult I am fortunate to know and spend time with the most amazing ladies. Many of them are moms and I admire what they do every day throughout the year.
I've been lucky enough to photograph some of the most beautiful women and mothers. Here are some of my favorites. Of course I had to include a selfie taken with my own beautiful, amazing mom!
“There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” —Jill Churchill
“I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” —Mitch Albom
Follow Amy Lima Photos on Instagram!
I enjoy Instagram because it's full of one of my favorite things - photographs! While I like checking Facebook, it is full of a lot of clutter. I enjoy scrolling through Instagram and looking at photos only. For years I've had an account and posted both business and personal photos on the same account. A few months ago I finally created an account for my business. Here I can post my business photography and updates. It is also a great way for me to follow my friends on my account and follow businesses I like and want to connect with on Instagram.
Head on over to my Instagram page and take a look! I'd love for you to follow my photography adventures. https://www.instagram.com/amylimaphotos/
Here are a few of my IG posts:
Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day
In New England we say "Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day." It's a huge deal in the area. There are parades, parties, restaurant specials, and of course all of the great food items you can find in the market. I have many fond memories of the holiday and continue to make new ones wherever I am.
Growing up, my parents always celebrated St. Patrick's Day with us. We would have a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner and my mom would put green food coloring in our milk. I would only eat the corned beef and some raw carrots, but these days I eat the whole dinner. It was a fun celebration in our house. One year I won “Leprechaun of the Day” at school. I think I was in third grade. I wore green corduroys, a green turtleneck, a green sweater, and green socks. I also had green pom pom hair ties in my pigtails! I remember how excited I was to go home and tell my family! I also couldn't wait to tell my grandfather. My maternal grandfather is mainly Irish and St. Patrick's Day was always such a big deal to him. He would dress from head to toe in his Irish gear and take the grandkids and whoever else he could wrangle up to the local St. Patrick's Day parades. Of course he'd enjoy a corned beef sandwich and beer afterwards. He was our family leprechaun. This is one of the many fond memories of my grandfather that I hold in my heart.
Of course college St. Patrick's Day celebrations included dressing in crazy green outfits and drinking green beer. In my twenties my friends and I frequented an Irish bar, St. James Pub. We spent time together there year round, but St. Patrick's Day was always extra fun. We'd wait in line forever to get in, but we knew we'd see all of our friends and have a great time so it was worth it. After college, I lived in Newport, RI...where St. Patty's is a HUGE deal. They have an awesome parade and people come in from all over to attend. It was an all day affair. My friends would sleep over the night before and we'd head out by 9 am. We'd kick it off at O'Brien's pub, then watch the parade, see some of our favorite bands play, and go wherever the day would take us. It's one of those things that you really have to experience to understand what it was like. Such a blast!
Another fun St. Pat's memory I have is the St. Pat's 5K in Providence, RI. I ran it twice with my brother Adam. It was a fun course. Of course it always ended up freezing out on race day, but we always had a blast together. I love that we were able to run the race together and we would go out and celebrate after.
When I started dating my husband, I wanted to continue the corned beef dinner tradition, so we'd make corned beef sandwiches. We had a special menu: corned beef on rye with mustard, sauerkraut, and swiss cheese. We had Cape Cod potato chips and a pickle on the side and served it with cold beer. Not your traditional corned beef dinner, but it was a tradition for us. We always did this a few weeks prior and then we'd have actual corned beef dinner with my family on St. Patrick's Day. Also, one of our good friends hosted a huge St. Patty's party. It was so great to see our friends, catch up with everyone, and spend time together....along with lots of shenanigans. We have some of the best memories of these parties!
Decorating for St. Patrick's Day is another fun tradition. My mom always decorated at our house growing up. It's a sign that Spring is coming! I usually decorate with tulips, daffodils, and some pops of green. This shamrock is from my grandparents. It's made out of horseshoes. It was one of my favorite decorations at their house when I was growing up and since my grandmother passed it on to me it has been a special Spring decoration in all my apartments and houses.
Now that we're in NC, I miss the family dinners and time with our friends, but we still celebrate down here. We don't make the sandwiches anymore, but we do have the traditional corned beef dinner every year. My parents came to visit last week so we had an early corned beef dinner with them. It was fun to continue the tradition with them! I'm looking forward to celebrating with friends this year. The holiday isn't as big of a deal down here in North Carolina as it is up in New England, but it's still a great time!
Whether you're Irish or not, Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Be Present
When you are out having fun with friends, family, or significant others, are you truly living in the moment and enjoying your time? Or is a big piece of that time with loved ones spent on your phone? Now, don't get me wrong, I loooove taking photos when I'm out and I do enjoy social media. I think we are lucky to have a device we can carry with us wherever we go that takes fantastic photos. I live far away from my family and friends so social media and texting is a great way for us to stay in touch. However, I do believe there needs to be balance when using our devices for photos, posting, and looking at others' posts while spending time with people.
When I'm out having fun, at some point I usually snap a few photos or selfies then put my phone away and enjoy the rest of my time. I can wait until I get home to see how many "likes" and comments my photos have. I would rather spend my time talking and laughing with my husband, family, friends...whoever I'm with and really be present and not miss any moments. Watching the game or concert I spent money on because I really wanted to be there to see my favorite team or band is more important to me.
I wrote a post about this a few years ago. I was at a Boston Red Sox game and as I looked around all I saw were phones. People taking pictures, videos, selfies, looking at social media. I even saw a woman playing games on her phone. Is anyone watching the game? Are you here to see a great baseball game or post your photos then pick up your phone every 2 minutes to see who looked at them? It makes me wonder what is more important to some people, that you are actually at a Sox game enjoying yourself with your loved ones or that you need the world to know that you are?
Document those memories, but also remember to BE where you are.