This is Erin.
She's a ballerina and a soon-to-be European History major. Even though she's from a small town, she's not exactly a small town girl. She's been to Paris. Twice. She loves Marie Antoinette, dances on pointe, and has been a gypsy in Kansas City's Renaissance Festival. And her 18th birthday was a formal masquerade party in a tea room.
Last week, we finally finished shooting her senior portraits. I say "finally" because we started in October. Normally I wouldn't spend an entire school year shooting one person's senior portraits, but Erin's different. I've known her mom for years and our daughters have danced together for a long time. So we've spent the last year working on her portraits. For one thing, we had to wait for snow.
For another thing, Erin had a lot of ideas and this was my gift to her and her mom. I wanted to make it good. I'm sad about saying goodbye to her in August when she goes far away to college... sad that my daughter won't dance with her any more.
But I can't wait to see what she does next.