Back in May 2014, the lovely and talented photographer Jennifer Hughes had taken some family photos for us. A few days later, she emailed me with the offer to come back to spend another day with our family – not to take formal pictures, but to document our real life instead. She wanted to be a fly on the wall and capture our day from start to finish.

Chip and I loved the idea, but I was a little bit like Reese Witherspoon in Wild. I mean, I was just supposed to roll out of bed circa 6:45/7:00 a.m. to unlock the front door for her while she patiently waited downstairs for the kids to stir and I didn’t need to coordinate, but not match, our clothes for the day?

Jennifer spent that fly-on-the-wall day with us in June, and how grateful we are to have these photos of our family. She has been kind enough to post them to her website. Thank you, Jennifer!

http://jenniferhughes.com/We-ve-Got-This

(If you’re viewing on a computer, use the bottom scrollbar.)

photo by jennifer hughes

A beautifully written and stunningly heartfelt tribute to Chip, from dear friend Brooke (with some pretty awesome pictures!) that we wanted to share this morning: Miles Back Home

This post is to be treasured.

From Brooke’s blog, The Conley Chronicles:

Just keep posting pictures of that boy. 

I couldn’t have guessed that such a simple text would in hindsight mean so much.

We had been talking all week while he lay in a hospital bed. He sent me a breathing tube selfie and I ribbed back, “Try to get some sleep with that thing on your face.” 

It was our normal banter and I never wanted to believe it would end. We laughed and we joked. We occasionally took the serious route.

Can I do anything from here?

Just keep posting pictures of that boy.

And then it was over.

Perhaps I did know that these seemingly basic interludes would one day take on greater meaning. Somewhere deep down I must have, because for the past two years I have been unwittingly creating a virtual memory vault filled with texts, photos, and voicemails that I could never bring myself to erase.

Bayard Winslow Kennett II – aka Chip (Chippewa as I liked to call him) – was one of the greatest people I have ever known. I met him at the ripe old age of 22, back when we both lived in Washington, DC and worked in the same congressional building on Capitol Hill. Every week day was spent IMing back and forth about the best bars in town and every weekend was spent exploring them.

I’ve written about Chip and his beautiful wife, Sheila, before in my post Get on Board. Team Kennett – as their family of four has come to be known – have been an inspiration to so many as they focused on being present and grateful after Chip’s 2012 diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer.

The above words were our last correspondence just hours before he passed away.

brooke and chip

miles with chip

Chip walked into a congressman’s office one day for a meeting with a staffer and one of his friends, Christy.  They hadn’t seen each other in a while, and, walking in, Chip didn’t know if Christy “knew” or not.  We are constantly trying to figure that out.

Sometimes people we don’t know will walk up to us at the dry cleaners, church, at a wedding reception, you name it, and say, “You don’t know me, but I’ve been reading your blog, and I have been praying for you and your family.”  Wow!  And then there are times I will just catch people, with their heads tilted over, pointing at us.  Oh, hi people across the room!  Yes, he does look good and uh huh, our kids are really young!  Those moments can feel a bit overwhelming, but at the same time, it is also encouraging to Chip and me that so many are taking the time to learn our story and pray for us.

Well, after Christy made a couple of comments about how she hadn’t seen him in a while and complimented him on his weight loss, Chip quickly realized she didn’t know.  Because Christy was a friend, Chip had to tell her right then and there.  I know this may sound crazy, but it is horrible having to tell someone and I always find myself apologizing for having to tell him or her our news.  It’s not that we can’t talk about it, because we can, but we feel so horribly for the person on the receiving end of the news and the incredibly awkward moment that inevitably follows the bomb drop.  Just add that to the list of really f’d up things we somehow manage to casually deal with on a daily basis.

Well, Christy chewed on the news all day long and emailed Chip later that night, telling him of a dear friend of hers who was a professional photographer, and she would love to help facilitate a photo shoot for our family if we would like.  We have been trying to have photos taken every three or so months, so yes, we would love that!  Imagine my pleasant surprise when I discovered her friend was the one and only Erin Rexroth!  I have been admiring Erin’s work on Facebook for years, because so many of my friends have used her for their family pictures.

One Thursday afternoon in late September, we spent a couple of hours traipsing around the Capitol with Erin taking some fun family pics.  I was immediately drawn to Erin’s warm, laid-back and funny personality.  We started playing the name game and within minutes had easily made our nation’s capital a little bit smaller that day.

Chip and I have been so fortunate over the past year to be on the receiving end of so many people’s generosity, and we are so appreciative Christy made the introduction and Erin graciously agreed to share her talent with us.

Please visit Erin’s blog to view our pictures. 

(Looking at these photos, it’s really eerie and sad to think that just one week later, our government is shut down and there was a shooting right outside the Capitol on the Senate side, at an entrance I’ve driven through countless times.  That part of D.C. will always be hard for me to wrap my head around.)

– Sheila