Monday 14 April 2014

15: Deena


Portraits - the Motherhood series. 

'I love it when you talk nerdy'

I've just spent a weekend at the Hunter Valley with friends. As we pottered about the cabin early on Sunday morning, Deena made this statement with a slogan tee. It's cute because it's true, she does love it when you talk nerdy. Dee works in Graphic Design and User Experience. Balancing part time work and motherhood isn't easy but you only have to ask her about work to know she clearly loves her job. She's an early technology adopter and is genuinely excited about making digital information usable, meaningful and enjoyable.

Deena and her husband Gavin both hail from England originally but travelled halfway around the world to meet here in Australia. They married in 2005 and together are raising two 'tornadoes' James and Harry. We spoke over the weekend about the pressures on expat families living abroad without the benefits of having their support network nearby. In a few weeks time, Dee and Gav will move their young family back to England. The prospect of being closer to their extended family and slowing down their schedules to make room for each other and their aspirations as a family makes it easy to appreciate why they've made this decision.

Deena is kind and refreshingly honest. When I asked her about motherhood, she told me that she's highly unorganised, a terrible cook and feels like she's working out this whole parenting thing on the fly. But despite feeling like she doesn't have the authority to provide advice on motherhood, her boys are oblivious to all that. When they rush to show her a turtle or the bugs they've just caught, when they're covered in mud and grinning from ear to ear they remind her that it's ok to not have all the answers. Those simple things are whats important to them, and that's what she loves most.

You can view all of my portraits from 2013/14 by clicking on the Portrait Series links in the right sidebar of this page.

In case you're wondering about the inspiration for this year's Motherhood portrait series, you can read more about it here.

Belinda x

1 comment:

  1. Another lovely friend with words of wisdom...thanks for sharing xx

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment, so nice to hear from you. Belinda x

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