Silvia wanted to book a portrait session with me to celebrate the beautiful life she has been blessed with. She inquired with a message of encouragement. Telling me, that “it’s easy to say you’ve lived for 50 years, but to actually live it can be hard.” It got the wheels turning for me. And to see Silvia, this beautiful and confident woman, in her 50 years of life experiences, compared to my 24 years, made me gain a high respect for her. A respect for all those who have lived longer than I have. Her message made me feel a sense of comfort knowing that even when I go through hard times myself, there are many other people out in this world that have gone through and are going through the same trials. Even when we feel we are alone in our difficult circumstances, we’re not. I started to think of that quote from the movie P.S. I Love You where the mother tells her daughter, “So now, all alone or not, you gotta walk ahead. Thing to remember is if we’re all alone, then we’re all together in that too.” The lonely are not alone; isn’t that ironic? 

On a side note, this lovely lady happens to be the mother of a great friend of mine, Romina. Romina is one of my favorite people on the planet. I met her in college while going through the Photography Program at GTC. She just moved to Australia this past summer, and while it’s great to see her living an adventurous life, I still miss her very much. It was kind of emotional for me to photograph and edit Silvia’s pictures because I kept seeing Romina in each portrait. Makes me want to catch a plane ticket right now and head on over to Sydney. I can’t imagine the longing Silvia feels for her.