family

Hello to all of my friends!
Today was an utterly satisfying day. My mom's side of the family had a family reunion with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins - even the baby cousins! We all had a great time playing croquet and catching up on each other's lives.
We had fancy catered food from a fancy place and it was all quite delicious, but the best part was definitely when we were all outside together after dinner, taking pictures, rolling around in the grass, and laughing. I brought my camera out and we were all snapping away at each other having a great time.
And when we got inside, my aunt showed me pictures she took of me with my baby cousin on my back, and we were both smiling and laughing. It was one of my favorite pictures ever because it wasn't a line-up-in-a-row-and-smile-like-you're-having-a-blast picture; it was a candid - a snap from the day, one one-thousandth of a second that spoke infinite amounts about the joy we shared in each other's company. It was such a great day - hearing my cousin's innocent laughing while he rode on my back around the yard, listening to the stories people told around the kitchen table, and playing games together like the good old days.
I flipped through the pictures I took, and when I looked in the pictures and saw the happy faces and the smiles, I knew that this was real emotion - it wasn't faked for a picture, it was captured magically. And that's the best part of all.
And also, I bought something cool today: a ukulele! I don't know how to play, but I'll learn. Then I can blog about it! But for now, I'm going to sleep, and then off to practice chords. Happy summer!