Amy - 34/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Leila (top right) with some of her "friends" at school pick-up today. I love how she is mostly observing them, since she is the youngest and feels excited just to be part of the gathering.

Day two of "friends week", so I brought my camera up to school for a picture of all the moms waiting for school to release. Many of them are my first friends in Perth and are important to my life in different ways ... however, I did not get a good reception and even had a lunch box blocking one face to refuse a photograph - LOL! I gave them fair warning that I would be showing up with the camera, again, another day and to be ready :)

When I was brainstorming the pictures I might take this week, I started the think about how friends often reflect the current stage of your life. As a parent, we are frequently acquaintances with other parents from school/activities and our kids are "friends" by association with siblings friends and their siblings - so many friendships are based on our connections that we have little time to seek new connections outside of that box. Boy! That sounds confusing when written, but in my head it makes a lot of sense!!!

Since I've moved around a lot (even across the world), I don't have a lot of life-long friendships and though I have reconnected with people from my youth on Facebook, it doesn't mean that we are really friends. Being a true friend should appear effortless, but indeed take work because you care about the person enough to give yourself to them in some way. I am happy to be spending time with you through our photographs and narratives, Nancy, and value that our friendship has spanned over twenty years and many life changes. You will always have a special place in my heart...