This is my Mommy and my Tita. Two incredibly special women who spent a lifetime laboring over tender spirits. These photos were a surprise opportunity when I dragged Jax and all his Grandmas outside to photograph them together while Nana Rose was visiting this summer.
I couldn't choose just one or two. In fact, I didn't delete any of the images I captured of these two together. The years have been long together but what remains is shorter still. This is how they look, with joy shining through their faces, and the wrinkles and smiles telling the story of toil and tears and love overcoming it all.
Their expressions aren't perfect ones, but they are the ones their loved ones see in them every day. The yearning gazes, the happy crinkly laughter, the gentle caressing kiss. When I look at these photos, they show me the true spirit of these women that is as visible to those who know them as the sparkle in their eyes. I don't want to brush away a single crease because we put them there - us their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and loves - and time tells a story too deep for words.
