my grandparents.

i commissioned an amazing artist, beth loftin, to do a painting from an old photograph of my grandparents. it's an awesome photograph- but once i was introduced to beth's style of painting i knew this photograph would look awesome painted. and it does.

i've mentioned my grandparents in several other posts but i've not yet told the blog their story. they were married for 60 years. had 11 children, 30 grandchildren & 3 great grandchildren. our family is amazingly close -we get together for every holiday (especially halloween!) and all but two of the children live in louisville, ky. (and a few of us grandchildren).

they were amazing. devout catholics that lived their lives rooting for the underdogs. my grandfather, paulie miller, is somewhat of a celebrity in our town- he coached flaget highschool football, baseball & basketball & had six graduates go on to become all-americans & one heisman trophy winner. i've since heard stories of how he was a hard man to play for- demanding a lot & not afraid of yelling if he didn't get it, but revered by everyone for his talent & determination. he then retired into politics, where he was very respected for his ideals. the man i knew, put on bunny ear's & hopped around the back yard hiding our easter eggs. my grandmother, mary catherine miller, raised the children, and honed in on her sense of humor, a must with 11 children running around. she could beat your butt at cards or scrabble & had a talent for stealing the microphone from the band at weddings. they were so much fun. i was extremely close to them as the oldest granddaughter. during my parents divorce, when i was ten, i practically lived at their house-

i use to fear the day they'd pass. i had nightmares about how to go on after losing such important people in my life- death was my biggest fear & theirs were on the top of that list. two years ago my family faced that horrible time. june 11th, my grandfather had an ulcer rupture & was rushed to the hospital. i was shooting a wedding, but luckily a friend was shooting it with me- so i could leave in between the ceremony & reception to see him before they put him under for surgery. he remained in the hospital for 3 weeks, having several close calls & only waking once for a few hours after we'd decided to remove the breathing tube. he woke up and sang the flaget fight song! my uncle asked him what he saw & as my family stood hovering around his hospital bed he said "beautiful faces". that's the kind of man he was.
he was 86 years old. after he passed away he was on the news several times & on the saturday we buried him the news declared him hometown hero of the week and did an awesome piece interviewing grandma & his children. we needed security & traffic guards so many people came to pay their respects. it took 13 limos to get our family to the funeral. it was overwhelming. i read corinthians 1, 13: 1-7, a part of the bible i use to feel was over done, but now i understand its power. i barely made it through without my aunt barbara having to come up & hold me tightly.

life definitely changed after that. grandma didn't really ever shake it off. she hid in her bathroom -smoking (because she thought we didn't know) most of the time. 3 weeks after we buried him we rushed her to the hospital after she couldn't stop coughing. a tumor had developed & was only allowing her to use less than 20% of her airways. my family opted to bring her home & let her live her last days comfortable in her house. a week before she passed away a hummingbird started appearing at the window. it was grandpa... she fell into a comma 3 days before she passed away & 2 hummingbirds started coming together to the window. we knew it was close & we were all okay with it because our sign... our hummingbirds gave us peace.

she died 6 weeks after my grandfather. we believe she willed the tumor to grow. her 61st anniversary was a week after she passed away & she was going to celebrate it with him in heaven. i handled it (for the most part) way better than i ever imagined i would. i think solely because of how it happened- they left us with such a powerful love story. i felt i couldn't be selfish and want them here with me- suffering the pains of old age when they could be together & happy. my family was blessed with amazing leaders & it's since produced some amazing people. i love and admire my family very much. i'm such a lucky person & i really wanted a piece of art that would symbolize their story, in return our story, forever.

that's where beth comes into the story. it arrived while i was in texas & bryan opened it & had it hanging on a wall in my studio. i almost started crying- (are you starting to sense a trend i'm a bit of a cry baby) she did an amazing job- their faces are dead on & you can feel how in love they were. i get chills each time i look at it-

here is the photograph, premarriage:



and here is the painting!


i credit a lot of my passion for documenting love to them. there is always a special story for every couple & since being a young child loved studying & watching how two people interact & care for eachother. my grandparents were a wonderful example of that.

thank you, beth!