ode to maralise

(photo "borrowed" from http://www.mlphotodesign.com/blog/)

A few days ago I received a package. It was a print by a fabulous photographer that I won in one of the auctions for Nienie. I was thrilled and it was stunning. The photographer was my dear friend Mara whom I have known for 16 years(!). As long as I have known her Mara has exuded calm, cool, collected-ness. Even at sixteen something about her just screamed "naturally hip and awesome". I sometimes wonder how she tolerated the rest of us insecure teenagers. She was present on many of my favorite high school adventures. I always secretly wanted to be just like her, I even had a semi-secret crush on her best friend/now husband Matt, you know, the guy she swore she'd never marry. Mara has become a lovely, graceful, thoughtful woman. She is just about to have some of her photographic work included in a gallery showing in her current home city of Vienna and she recently had a beautiful essay published in a lovely book about motherhood that I will be giving as a gift for the next little while (sorry to spoil the surprise). She also has a fabulous blog that you can check out here. She writes in a raw, honest, lyrical way that makes me weep with admiration. She is just as hard on herself as I am, possibly worse. She is a lovely mother and friend and an amazing woman. I hope she doesn't mind, but this week I found her to be an absolute inspiration.