It’s Not Goodbye, it’s See You Later!
I met Kati’s mom, Brandi, when I started to volunteer with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep a few years ago. She is one of the coordinators of NILMDTS for San Antonio and she is also a photographer with Brandi Blake Photography. Because our group of volunteers is so small, we have all become good friends and practically family. We are each other’s support when our sessions are difficult and sad and we always have each other to talk to when our hearts are aching for families. Brandi had mentioned that Kati’s birthday was coming up and she wanted to do a special photo session as a gift for her daughter Kati. We had talked about doing a photo session together downtown. A few weeks later, Brandi told me that the military would be moving them once again. I told Brandi why not do her photos at a signature location in downtown San Antonio so that Kati could take that memory with her? Kati has babysat for us in the past and we have grown close to her this past year so it was bittersweet taking her photos. Of course, we were happy that she had so much fun and since she is a photographer’s child it was easy to take her photo but we were sad at the same time as well because we will miss our dear friends. But as a military family as well, we understand that moving is an inevitable part of military life.
