Sometime in the summer …

2016

Reedville, VA

I once read somewhere, “Photographs are a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.” I wish I could say those were my original words because that’s exactly how I feel. I’ve been able to linger on the coast, relive my boys’ victories (and defeats), and visited with friends just a little longer every time I wander through photographs.

This photograph is one of those moments. We were on vacation in Reedville, Virginia with my parents, my brother’s family, and my husband and our two boys. The sign said, “Welcome to Reedville. Est. 1903. Pop. 77 people, 13 dogs, and several blue crabs.” It was the perfect hide-a-way after a frantic spring and summer of travel baseball schedules.

The house my parents rented could not have been more perfect for us. The main house gave my three nieces their own space, my two boys had their own bedroom, and there were two additional bedrooms for my brother and sister-in-law and my husband and me. The best was The Tree House, a private apartment perfect for my parents to escape to when the chaos of five kids and their wild games of spoons got out of hand, which it always did.

We had our own little beach along the coast of the Chesapeake where the water was bath temperature and never got more than waste high. We watched egrets fly to and from their nests, paddle boarded without the fear of waves, and enjoyed some of the most beautiful sunrises. I’m such a sucker for sun rising and setting over water.

The owners had these six chairs arranged along the edge of their property, and they just seemed to beg to be photographed. Their vibrant colors, the green of the grass, the blue of the bay, and the wisp of the clouds echo the joy we shared the week we lived in Reedville. And I can’t lie - they made the perfect venue for happy hours, which were never limited to just an hour.

Sunrise in Reedville