4 reasons why Candice Glover inspires me

There are girls that are the prettiest, coolest, flyest, best dressed, most fashionable, etc. There are also the women who are the most confident, the smartest, the most secure, the most talented. Sometimes the two circles collide and sometimes not. There are many women I admire, for many reasons, but the gals that fall in the the second category get much more of my attention. Candice Glover of American Idol is on the list of women that get my attention.

She is a contestant on the hit show American Idol. There is a way that she sings that goes beyond just stringing sets of notes together. She sings with power, with passion clearly understanding the words that she sings and completely determined to make you believe the story she's telling through her music.

But it's more than that. Candice is not the typical Hollywood type. She is an average sized girl with average looks and average fashion styling BUT (and there's a big but) she walks on that stage with supreme confidence. She may truly feel that way about herself....or she may be in the 'fake it till you make it' category. Doesn't matter.....outwardly she has convinced me of her skills. She does her job so well that you are forced to stop and wallow in the beauty of her voice and her presence.

She is grateful. Week after week she sings. Sometimes she's great and sometimes she's just good. But she is grateful when she gets compliments and just as thankful for her learning experiences. It's no surprise that she is on the finale show.

She is determined. It takes a chick with some chutzpah to love something, want to do it passionately, get shunned over and over again, yet pick up and try again. That's Candice. She tried out for American Idol repeatedly and wasn't 'good enough.' So she honed her gift until she was ready for just this moment.

I photograph women from all walks of life. I don't photograph models. I photograph the everyday woman. I photograph the girl who likes her legs and hates her butt, who is a great accountant/nurse/teacher but a terrible housekeeper/cook/fashionista, the girl who only dresses up on weekends (and for photoshoots), the girl who is a great mother and a loving wife, the girl who has life experience full of joys and a few regrets, the girl who works hard and laughs harder, the girl who has tons of fun but remembers that she has a reputation to uphold. That's my client, my peeps, the chick I love the photograph. Candice reminds me of that girl.....and that's why I love her.

My favorite Mother's Day photo

Grandma, Mommy, Sister and Me. This is/was my circle of 4. My grandmother is gone now. I miss her. I miss that my children won't know her like I did. I miss that they won't get advice from her. They can't taste her soup. She can't make them a nice cup of Milo with extra condensed milk. Instead they get to call the woman she raised as their grandmother.

I am the woman I am today because my mother was raised by a woman with a strong commitment to her children. There was nothing and no-one that could stand in the way of my grandmother and the vision that she had for her daughter. Every child deserves a grandmother that is a little indulgent and a gives out lots of hugs and love. My children have my mother as their grandmother.

This morning my mother called me to say, "Happy Mother's Day." She told me that she was proud of my dedication to my family, proud of the way I mother. I wanted to say, "I got it from you." I wanted to tell her that I got every bit of it from her but I was interrupted by a bouncing 3 year old who realized that her grandma was on the phone. Those two love each other without bounds. They go on dates, they talk for as long as necessary and one of them cries when it's time to leave (I won't say who). The stern, loving and self-sacrificing woman who raised me is now a doting grandmother. I love watching the way she is with my children. She's a bit unrecognizable yet charmingly familiar. Grandmothering suits her. It's a beautiful dance of love.

About 10 years ago, before I was a mother, I gathered the most important women in my life and we took a picture....together. Now that my grandmother is gone, this gift is the one thing that I treasure the most. I am happy that on mother's day so many years ago, I invested in a gift to my legacy that will probably outlive all of us. I am eager for the portrait session this summer with my kids and their grandparents because the legacy continues. The memories never end. The stories keep going. The influence of generations of mothers is beautiful.