Something wonderful and welcome showed up in today’s mail; a card and some pictures from Ray’s daughter Ciara who is now living in Florida with her new husband, Kyle.
That is one of the last pictures of Ray with Ciara, they were engagement and wedding photos as it was understood at this point that the odds of Ray making it to the wedding were not good at all.
I’m very sorry that Ray couldn’t make to his kid’s wedding and walk her down the aisle. He loved Ciara to bits and he was one of those rare fathers who kept main custody of his kid through a divorce. He was always proud of her and enjoyed telling me what she was up to. I have known Ciara since she was five, before her front teeth fell out and her adult ones came in. She came along on a lot of photo outings and was the bug wrangler for a fair number of Ray’s insect photos as she could catch almost anything. Ciara was a large part of the photography that I did with her father and I have good memories of her, too.
It was a privilege to know Ciara as a child and to watch her grow into a capable adult. It is a pleasure to get to know her now as an adult, especially when she sends lovely surprises in the mail.
I’m not someone who is prone to tearing up and Ciara’s note inside the card made me tear up. I’m happy to know it means something to her that I’m trying to keep Ray’s memory alive through photography using some of Ray’s own tools. It sure means something to me. It’s been almost half a year since losing him and I’m still missing the cranky bugger like crazy.
I have also been struggling with this site these past two weeks so it was the motivation I needed. Now I’m excited about taking Ray’s camera out again this weekend. It’s amazing how the right thing can show up at the right time.
