Always Be Thinking a Measure Ahead

I have been scratching my head for over a decade, trying to think of a “teacher gift” for Brenda that would even come close to showing my appreciation for the lessons she has taught me. Kind of a no-brainer when you think about it. Family photo shoot!

Lots more pictures below.

If you are friends of Charlie and Brenda, shoot them an email to see their sweet slide show. The thinking behind the music choice was not easy. I mean, how do you pick out music for Brenda Day?! Ultimately, I went with a bittersweet tribute to that time in our lives when the youngest leaves the nest.

My first experience with Brenda Day was as a member of the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church where she is the music minister. For the first couple of years that I was a member there, I sat in the pews and listened, appreciating the quality of the music. I even wrote Brenda a note in my early days thanking her for gracing my life with the beautiful anthems the choirs would sing and her impressive skill and talent playing the massive pipe organ.

When my son, Bradley, turned 4, he joined the Carol Choir, and I hung around in his first few weeks to make sure he would behave appropriately around a musician I highly respected. I was enchanted by her grace, love and skill in working with those young children. Eleven years later, I’m still hanging around the Carol Choir (and several others) hoping that some of that Brenda-magic will rub off onto me. (And some of it has! Watching Brenda has taught me how to relate to children at family photo shoots.)

In the span of my eleven years with the Carol Choir, Brenda has cajoled me into helping with all the children and youth choirs, I joined the Senior Choir, helped with junior bells a few years, sang in duets and small ensembles, took piano lessons, directed the youngest choirs when Brenda was on sabbatical — all of these things are things I NEVER imagined I’d be doing! And not only that, but after 25 years worth of dust gathering on my old college clarinet, she actually got me playing clarinet again!

But the best thing of all: in all these years of hanging out with Brenda in that choir room, she has been my counselor, my spiritual guide and my true friend.

So to me, the gift of a family photo session on the occasion of her daughter’s 21st birthday and anticipating her son’s graduation from high school seemed like a small drop in the bucket of thanks that I owe to her.

Graduating high school. Sigh. I can’t believe it. Jon was in the Carol Choir that first year that I hung around. Now he’s taller than Charlie. By the way, this picture cracks me up because I was trying to go for a cool vibe, but Charlie couldn’t stop smiling! Too funny.

And he can carry Charlie on his back! By the way, Jon — we are all so proud of you for achieving Eagle Scout rank this year! Way to go, Jon!

Elisa was being my test model in this shot. I love it!

Elisa has been wanting pictures of her family for a very long time. This is one of my favorites.

Sometimes when I arrive at a photo shoot, it’s as if nobody really knows what they’re supposed to do. So I just start clicking, and things just start moving along, and pretty soon, voila! I’ve got some awesome shots…

…like this one!

Jon has been a very active member of his high school’s marching band, which makes Brenda a very active band parent. Gotta say, Brenda, I kinda hate you for that. (Bradley dropped out of band in favor of track and field. Boo.) But I LOVE this picture of you two!

Love this one too.

I’m… I don’t know… just kind of speechless. I know Brenda is going to love these pictures of her family.

This is one of my favorites for sure.

I cropped Brenda and Charlie out of this one because it’s such a good brother/sister shot.

This one’s kind of an outtake. Haha. But also, kind of real, no?

The whole family! (The black dog’s name is Julie, by the way. But she’s not named after me, just in case there’s any question about that.)

We went out front for a little basketball. I swear nobody was physically injured in the making of this slide show.

I put these shots in color in the slide show, but I kind of like the black and white versions too.

Brenda made a basket! WAA-HOO!

Let me reiterate: nobody was physically injured in the making of this slide show.

Always on the lookout for a good “the end” kind of shot, I saw this one as a metaphor for pushing Jon out the door, as in, out the door in transition to college, and adult life.

They were all making fun of me for laying on the ground but it was worth it for this awesome action shot of Charlie and Jon playing basketball.

As I mentioned before, it was Elisa’s 21st birthday. So we staged a little toast to remember the special day. I love the look on Charlie’s face for Elisa’s first legal beer. And the message in the words of the music right at that point are cool too: “Keep me everywhere you are,” as in, I’m still watching over you.

Elisa’s boyfriend, Sean, joined us for the shoot. He was a very helpful photo assistant. Thanks, Sean!

Love this shot of the two of you.

No family photo shoot of the Days would be complete without Charlie’s other true love: the airplane he’s building.

I had to make them do the toast again. Too funny.

Happy birthday, Elisa!

Brenda, I hope you like your slide show as much as I do. Thank you so much for all you have given to me, including the most important lesson of my music and my life: “Always be thinking a measure ahead!”

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