A short story.
Yesterday we went on a lovely walk through the trails to capture some of the beautiful frost. Toddler + Dog + Sled + Backpack of camera gear + Dog treats in my pocket (because sometimes Juno doesn’t listen when she hasn’t had a good walk in a few days). We ventured down the trails in the ravine to a spot I thought would be perfect for frost. Turns out there wasn’t much there but we continued on anyways. Isla riding in the sled, Juno running around with her leash in her mouth and me taking photographs as we walked.
Of course, I cannot go anywhere without a camera or some kind of device that takes pictures. It is part of me, I feel lost without it and would constantly be thinking of all the things I didn’t get a chance to capture. So to save my sanity, the camera must come and therefore I needed a backpack to hold more than one lens.
Well…5 minutes down the trail Isla wanted out of the sled and wanted to walk, so I pull her out. She’s enjoying adventuring down the trail and picking up snow and throwing it in the air. Juno is running around like a crazy dog. I am photographing them as we go.
About 10 minutes later Isla decides she wants to go through the trees to this big open field. We start walking through the trees and I then realize that I didn’t put her snow pants over her boots and snow was getting in her boots. I bend down to fix her pants and thought she was holding onto me (not realizing she can’t really hold on properly wearing her mittens). She then falls and does a face plant right into bark of the tree beside us. She is crying hysterically and I realize she now has a bleeding nose! I then look over to see where Juno is. I find her in the field with my mittens barking and tossing then up in the air! (she has an extreme obsession with mitts and socks!).
So here I am trying to console a crying toddler, stop a bleeding nose, pack away my camera, wrangle a dog and my mittens, stay warm and find a way to get this whole mess back up the hill we came down and back to the car. All the while I’m thinking, ‘why do I do this to myself?’ Needless to say Juno learned in an instant how to pull a sled! She did pretty well for a crazy doodle!
Funny thing about this story is, thinking back over the past year this is pretty much what my life was like every day. I can honestly say that balancing life and business has been my most challenging task to date. There is definitely an art to balancing raising a family, building a profitable business, working a day job, nurturing relationships with family and friends, finding time for myself and in the end, not getting lost in it all!
While it was difficult at times, it was the challenge and the true love for photography and animals that kept me going. The moment when people see their photographs for the first time and the joy on their faces when they hold their beautifully finished photographs is so worth every moment. I will continue to grow and learn and capture beautiful works of art.
I look forward to all the challenges and adventures this year will bring!
Thank you for following along on my adventure!
Much Love,
Teann
*This photograph was taken a few minutes before the chaos ensued
