Three Rivers, Michigan (2015)
My mom had asked me to take a photo of my grandparents with my sister, who was visiting our family cottage from Idaho for Memorial Day weekend. While Grandpa and I waited, I snapped a couple of photos. For me, this image captures my grandfather’s optimistic spirit, as well as the gentle pride he has in the life he and my grandmother have built together, in some ways quite literally—the dock, the raft… But when I first returned to this image, the raft by the shore and the poles on the grass gave me pause: were we putting things in the lake that day, or taking them out? Pitching in at the lake always marks the rhythms of passing seasons, and each spring and fall is a reminder that my grandparents—and I—are growing older.
