Through Hardships We Grow.. Hello 2021

2020. It’s been a hell of a year. I do this every year. Collage the highlights and share them. Normally I wax nostalgia and celebrate the triumphs. This year the only word I can think of is wow. We lost all three of my surviving grandparents in the course of six short months. My business was shut down. School was shut down. Life was shut down. The new normal became dystopian. Depression and anxiety and grief are at all time highs.

I’m looking forward to 2021. I’m choosing to usher out 2020 with positivity and gratitude for the lessons it has taught me. For the fire it sparked in me. For the peace I want to carry with me for the rest of my life. My word for next year is pause. 2020 taught me how, 2021 will be the year I fully appreciate it.

PersonalLeigh Ann AtwellJanuary 2, 2021Comment

The One Where Leigh Ann got Covid

December 16th I started feeling run down. I assumed it was exhaustion, this is my busy season and I was overworked and so tired. By December 18th the congestion, cough and complete lethargy set in. I went to Fast Pace on the 19th. They gave me a rapid test, negative. The dr said I had viral bronchitis (Ryder was sick for approx 3 days before I got sick). He said the rapid test is only 40-50% accurate, but he really believes it was bronchitis. He said to me “if we do the send off test you’ll be forced to quarantine for three days when you don’t need to.” So I took him for his word and went home and rested.

PersonalLeigh Ann AtwellJanuary 2, 2021covid, 2020, photographerComment

My Top Ten October 2020 Guilty Pleasures

As most of you already know, October is an insanely busy time for photographers. You will most likely find me chained to my laptop on never-ending editing sprees with Netflix binging in the background. But, as most of you also know, I am on a health journey, so some of these will be from that. Read on to find out what I am obsessed with this week, what I can’t put down and what I can’t stop thinking about!!

Pensacola Beach Adventure and A New Season of Life

Saturday morning, I woke up with an overwhelming urge for change. This entire past year has been full of major growth. But, in particular, this past month has been full of deep introspection. I am in a very odd season of life. My children are now teenagers. They don’t spend as much time with me as they used to, which is normal. But it leaves me in such a weird position. I have spent the past 15 (almost 16) with my entire days devoted to being a mother. And while I am still a mom, they don’t need me as much. So in that respect I have been having to find ways to fill my extra time.

Bright Burning Bulb

Five years ago I was a BROKE single mother. When I say broke I mean, broke city. I was on food stamps, living in an income based, two bedroom apartment with two kids. Crying daily about how to make ends meet. I eventually got a sort of decent job, in the media department at a local company. When I say “sort of decent” I mean, I was still broke, but I was actually able to pay bills, with a little crying and a lot of money maneuvering.

PersonalLeigh Ann AtwellAugust 2, 2019Leigh Ann Atwell Photographysingle mom, single motherComment