The Gregory Family

Tell me about your garden? Why you started gardening how the kids feel about it? What do you think gardening has taught your family?

I think people think the garden is MY thing, but Keith is just as involved as I am, if not more so. We’re both practical people and we really like good food. So it only makes sense that we grow our own vegetables. We always plant way too much because we’re so excited to get it going for another season. We try to add something new or different each year. The kids always like to help decide what we plant, and they’re pretty good at harvesting. Nobody likes to pull weeds though. I think the kids are great vegetable eaters because they know they helped to grow them.

Tell me about Archery. Why you like it. how the kids feel about it? What do you think it has taught your family?

Keith was the first real person I ever knew that shot a bow. I thought it was so old-fashioned and rugged -two qualities that initially attracted me to him. It only made sense that he would make a little toddler sized bow for Jonas then when he was about 3. All three kids shoot bows now. They’d all love it if I did too, but it just hasn’t happened yet.

Why do you think access to books is important?

Books are our stories. We each have a different one. Some of us have more than one. Somewhere there is someone that needs to hear everyone’s.

In what ways do libraries serve their communities that people might be surprised to hear? What about the library surprised you when you started working there?

It’s surprising that it took me so long to realize that I was meant to be a librarian. I thought I was supposed to be a teacher, and never gave the library any thought. I still consider myself a teacher even though now the library is my classroom, and my students change from day to day.

What is your favorite book and why?

Just one?? The Secret Garden was my favorite childhood book, and now I love tons of books for lots of different reasons. I really like David Soman’s Three Bears in a Boat because I’ve read it so many times with my three little bears. It’s beautifully illustrated and includes this great line: “They didn’t care whose fault it was anymore, they were all in the same boat.”

What is Keith’s favorite book and why?

Probably one that he hasn’t read to the kids one million times.

What is jack’s favorite book and why?

“Mighty Jack because it’s a cool graphic novel and it says my name and has action.”

What is maggie’s favorite book and why?

“The Princess in Black because it’s funny.”

What is Jonas’s favorite book and why?

“I don’t have one favorite. I have a LOT.”
 

What was your favorite photograph from your session?
I love so many! I love the kids’ individual pictures in the library stacks and outside. I love the pictures on the roof of the deck, and at the fountain, and in front of the ivy wall. I guess if I really had to choose just one it would be the ones of all of us on the couch loving on each other. Those are real and rare.

What do you want to remember about your kids at this age?

That they are so full of energy, creativity, and curiosity. Pretty much the same things they’ve been full of since I’ve known them.

If you could leave your kids a note that they would read when they look at these photos 20 years from now what would you want to say to them?

Nothing gives me anxiety like knowing my kids are getting older every day. 20 years? I can’t bear the thought.

There is nothing like being a mother. The love that I have for you is indescribable. It is giant and infinite and...the most important and difficult thing I do. These pictures capture so much of all of your reality. It’s hard to believe that at one time you were all physically attached to me. With every passing day, I feel you growing a tiny bit further away, and it tears at my heart.. I can’t wait for the day that the boomerang makes its way back. Maybe 20 years is when that happens. I’ll be here waiting.