Tag: Relationships

Change, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Mindfulness, Photography, Relationships, Teaching

Empathy Gap – Don’t Fall In

Catherine Matthews Images

As soon as I shut the door, I knew. I heard the click of the lock and my stomach sank to my feet. I collapsed forward. My forehead hit the top of the window giving me an unobstructed view of my purse and both sets of my car keys sitting prominently on the passenger seat mocking me. Don’t ask why I had both sets of car keys, I have no idea. With a symphony of colorful words going through my mind, I raced around the Jeep trying each door even though I knew they too would be locked. I called my husband. I’m not sure what kind of magic I thought he could do from 15 miles away. His first question, “Where’s your spare?” had me banging my head on the glass.

Gratitude, Inspiration, Joyfulness, Life Lessons, Life Long Learning, Photography, Relationships, Winemaking

Of Grapes and Friendship

Catherine Matthews Images

Last weekend, my best friend and I recruited a few enthusiastic volunteers (our husbands and one of our dear friends) and we pressed 400 pounds of grape must.  I have been making wine from kits for about 20 years with pretty solid success.  In addition to getting about 30 bottles of delicious vino for my troubles, I have always marveled in the process.\...

Change, Children, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Motherhood, Parenting, Photography

Adventure Days!

Catherine Matthews Images

For the last couple of weekends, I have been shooting my daughter’s senior portraits.  It was so special to me that I was able to do this for her- that she wanted me to do this for her. Though I have shot a number of senior portraits and I always feel honored to do it, this one had a weight to it. I was at once thrilled and saddened at the mere thought of it...

Girl and boxer pups sleeping on a sofa
Change, Children, Dogs, Family, Grief, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Parenting, Photography

A Girl’s Best Friend

Catherine Matthews Images

I remember when we picked him up. After months of looking, we found him at a breeder in Omak.  My husband has a knack for tracking down the best pups.  Dog-less for a year or more, we finally decided it was time for our daughter to have her own dog.  After much negotiations on breed, color and sex, we settled on a brindle Boxer of either gender....

Icicle River Leavenworth Washington
Change, Family, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Photography, Relationships

Making Memories Under the Big Sky

Catherine Matthews Images

The summer before 5th grade, my father took me on a week-long backpacking trip in Glacier National Park. We planned the trip over the spring on our every-other-weekend visits.  My dad pinned a map to the wall in the living room of his one-bedroom apartment. Back then, the map shifted from grey to a deep green as you looked east across the page. In my child’s mind, I imagined an endless park stretching across the state.   In thick black ink, he traced the route across Washington and Idaho. The line snaked through Kalispell and north to Hungry Horse.  Montana sounded so exotic....

Change, Family, Growth Mindset, Inspiration, Joyfulness, Life Lessons, Perceptions, Relationships

Two Sides of the Same Girl

Catherine Matthews Images

When I was a little kid, I felt strangely like two different people.  In retrospect, I imagine that other children of divorce felt the same way. But it was the 70’s and divorce was rare in our Catholic community, so I didn’t have anyone to compare my experience with....Those two parts of me converged one day on the snowy hills of Snoqualmie Pass with an object lesson I will never forget. 

Colonial Cemetery Savannah GA
Change, Family, Growth Mindset, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Life Long Learning, Photography

Stronger Than I Thought

Catherine Matthews Images

On that day, I learned that the limits of my personal strength were so much greater than I had ever imagined.  I learned that sometimes people need an object lesson in their ignorance, but there is no reason to rub it in their face.  Actions speak louder than words and experience is the best teacher.   I learned that I might not be able to change other people’s long held beliefs, but I don’t have to be a victim to them either. I learned that people may try to set limits for me, but I don’t have to accept those limits.  I learned I was stronger that I thought.

Family, Inspiration, Joyfulness, Life Lessons, Marriage, Photography, Relationships

Wedded Bliss (and the not so blissful parts that make it truly a blessing….)

Catherine Matthews Images

Marriage isn’t always easy. In my experience, it’s not endless days of wine and roses.  It is knowing someone knows you better than anyone else and loves you for everything you are – everything.  It is knowing that person has your back – always. It is knowing that love shared, in the end, will always dwarf the stress, fear, grief, and pain inevitable in this life. 

baby
Family, Inspiration, Joyfulness, Parenting, Photography, Relationships

Never Pass Up A Birthday Party

Catherine Matthews Images

Don’t get me wrong, education is absolutely important.  Everyone needs a good education.  Having a job or career that fits your life is important. But a life is so much more than that. And what is important in life is so much more than that.  Knowing you are part of a family ....

Family, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Parenting, Photography, Relationships

My Heart

Catherine Matthews Images

My daughter is a junior this year. She is our only child. The good Lord blessed us with only one child but, in so doing, He blessed us every single day after.  In just over a year, she will leave us to go off to college and start this new adventure. The part of her life where she becomes an adult independent of us.  Every day I fight the primal urge to cover her in bubble wrap leaving holes only so that she can breathe...

Alaska wilderness
Grief, Relationships

Do It For A Friend

Catherine Matthews Images

As I was driving home from work tonight, Corey Hart’s Never Surrender came on. You probably will only know this song if you were embroiled in teenage angst or young adult drama in the mid-1980s. It was the theme song for that.   I remember it because I recorded it on cassette tape and sent it to my best friend, naively hoping it might help to wake her up...

little girls 1967
Family, Relationships

Don’t Cry Over a Chipped Tooth

Catherine Matthews Images

My daughter missed her dentist appointment this week.  In general, she is a very responsible teenager. I only bring it up because every time I hear the word dentist, I can’t help but run my tongue over the edge of my top right front tooth.  You see, I have a chip in my top right front tooth.  It is not...