There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really 
splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was 
spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears 
were lined with pink sateen...

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by
side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does
it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that
happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just
to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When
you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit
by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It
takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who
break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.
Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved
off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very
shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are
Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Margery Williams The Velveteen Rabbit

Once upon a time, Sylvia was dream.  Sarah loved her and cared for her, but she had not become real.  Through the heartbreak and joy of adoption, Sylvia came to be the miracle of a dream come true.

As Sarah shared the tiniest glimpse into their journey and Sylvia cuddled this rabbit during her One Year Old Pictures Greer SC, I could not help but feel the strong stirring of The Velveteen Rabbit echoing from my childhood. The visual cue certainly helped.

Yet, story has a way of moving us into the emotion and very soul of living. It gets past our defenses and leaves us bare and vulnerable.  Story makes us real to one another.

Your story matters. It changes me.  It changes my art.  It challenges me to become someone who reflect the sheer beauty of a person with a unique story.

Sylvia, it was a joy, not only to be chosen to tell part of your story, but to become part of it in the way the telling changed me.  Also, thank you for my spontaneous kisses.

Interested in having your own story told in One Year Old Pictures Greer SC?  I’d be honored to be considered.  Click here to learn a little more about working with me.