Some of the best people I know are right here in these photographs. From day one here in Jacksonville, as we unloaded the U-Haul box by box. Kenzie walked around the corner with her little boy (who seemed to be right around the age of Everett), and asked where we were from! There was nothing shy or timid about her. She was welcoming, and inviting! And our friendship grew almost instantaneously.  

We went on adventures with our kids, folded laundry together, laughed, cried and talked about sex together because that’s what you do when you’re REALLY best friends. She waddled over to my house large and pregnant and asked if I’d watch her son while went into the hospital because her water just broke. And then, for a couple months, they moved away for a deployment. But the story doesn’t stop there. At the end of their deployment when they moved back, I was big and pregnant asking if she (whom I hadn’t seen in months) would be my doula. She helped me get through incredibly hard times. But also some incredibly great ones too!

We are both Chatty Cathy’s and so we could get together for hours, not even phased by the interruptions from our kids. Eventually, photography became a topic of interest not only for me but for her as well. I was so excited to share everything I knew with my best friend and even have her join me to help shoot a few weddings! (Best job ever when you get to giggle with your BFF for 12 hours)!  

I say this a lot, but I really mean it. Military friendships grow into friendships like I’ve never known before. You build them fast because everyone’s in need of friends. And then you build them strong. Because you have no one else to rely on being so far away from family. Your friends become your family. 

With new orders to a different state, Mackenzie and her sweet little family will always be a part of my family, even apart. I love their their stinkin’ guts!