Ferri Family Portraits

I was in the mid­dle of a recipe and real­ized I was out of sugar. Oh no! “How could this hap­pen?” I asked myself. Going to the gro­cery store is one of my least favorite things to do espe­cially in the mid­dle of a recipe. I decided I had to just walk over to a neighbor’s house and ask for a cup of sugar. What hap­pened to the days of sit­ting on the porch (not that we have porches!) and bor­row­ing ingre­di­ents from the neigh­bors? I was a bit appre­hen­sive about going to a neigh­bor because I was afraid my Mid­west friend­li­ness may not be so wel­comed around here. I refused to con­form and stepped out my door on a mis­sion. I’m not sure if it was as much of a mis­sion to get sugar or to see if there were any friendly neigh­bors left in the world. I gave it two shots and there was no answer at either doors. I was so dis­cour­aged I retreated to my home, grabbed my keys, walked to the car with my head down and drove off to the neigh­bor­hood gro­cery store.

I began to pon­der over some of my expe­ri­ences the past two years. I’ve received blank stares while waiv­ing hello or try­ing to meet a new neigh­bor while talk­ing through a closed door. I could dwell on these things and lose hope, but then there are peo­ple like Sean and Dana that not only give me hope but inspire me by their exam­ple. Sean and Dana are full of life and the desire to share theirs with oth­ers. They are always out­side play­ing with their kids and most of the neigh­bor­hood grav­i­tates towards their house and for a rea­son. They are a per­fect rep­re­sen­ta­tion of what com­mu­nity should look like. Our homes should be open to wel­come our neigh­bors and a sim­ple smile and wave can go a long way in a world like today. After a long day at work, I love pulling into our street and receiv­ing a warm wel­come home from Sean and Dana. It may be a small ges­ture but it is much more than that for me.

Sean and Dana thank you for being the first to wel­come us into the neigh­bor­hood back in 2006. Thank you for not miss­ing any birth­day or anniver­sary of ours. And thank you for being such an exam­ple of what a sim­ple smile and wave can do for a per­sons heart. Now I know where to come for a cup of sugar the next time I run out.

~Can­dace

.

We spent the after­noon at Leo Ryan Park in Fos­ter City. This is Sean and Dana’s adorable lit­tle boy Nico. Could he be any more precious?

And this is big brother Josh. Mr. Handsome.

This is my favorite shot of the day.

Boys will be boys.

And now you can see where these boys get their good looks.

Noth­ing sweeter than a kiss from mom.

Sean and Dana, thank you so much for hav­ing us doc­u­ment your fam­ily and the love you share with each other. We had so much fun tak­ing these as we always do with you.