Where it All Began

I met Summer for the first time in high school. She and I went to different high schools in the same district and we traveled in the same uber-academic circles. We were both on Academic Decathlon and did UIL Ready Writing. We took the SAT II exams at the same time in the same room. She did choir and I liked watching performances, so I saw her there as well.

I'm not sure I even knew her name, though, until we met up again in a course on Chaucer at Southwestern University. Over the course of our freshman year we found a kinship in our whimsy and became roommates the next year. The roommate choice wound up not being the best for our different styles of living (I'm not saying who the neat one was and who was a total slob) but our friendship was strong enough to survive and I was even a bridesmaid (possibly the maid of honor... it's been too long) at her wedding and she came back to Texas for mine.

So I knew while she was here, I wanted to take her and Andrew back to Southwestern, which has not only become the place the three of us met, but the place where Andrew asked Summer to marry him and where they eventually said their vows.

As is our custom, we had a picnic breakfast on the academic mall (I still don't know why it's called that).

Summer's son brought his travel processional cross in anticipation of a visit to the chapel where his parents were married.

Summer brought play silks and taught Sydney several "real" songs. (Sydney was very skeptical about Summer's songs and kept asking if they were "real" songs. Summer finally told Sydney that any song you can sing over and over again is "real." )

At one point, Summer and her son were in the chapel and Andrew was left on the mall with his daughter. I loved the framing of the chapel behind them.

But then when I zoomed in, I found that I liked the tenderness of the Poppa even more.

I also took advantage of the natural setting to snap some pictures of the baby. She is just so photogenic and happy.

While I was being a photographer, Jack was begging for more food, so Andrew had to secure snacks for Jack. I told him later, "Thanks for feeding my son so I could take pictures of your daughter." Andrew indicated that it was more than a fair trade.