The Season of Lasts

May has a way of arriving with weight. As a San Antonio (and Denver) senior photographer, May is not just busy, it’s one of the most emotionally full months of my year.

For senior families, it is the month where everything starts to feel like a countdown. The big lasts show up first. Last prom, last game, last recital, last spring musical, last awards banquet, last day of school. Those ones you can see coming. You put them on the calendar. You make plans. You show up with your camera and try to take it all in.

But then there are the other lasts. The ones that sneak up on you.

The last time they drove off to school in the morning. The last time you saw them in that uniform. The last time you folded those baseball pants, that soccer jersey, those dance leotards. The last time their car was in the driveway every night. The last time someone needed a ride.

And then the ones still coming.

The last night they sleep at home before they leave for college. The last family dinner before they launch into this next phase. The last hug at drop-off. The last look before you turn and walk back to the car.

The lasts you never see coming

I remember standing quietly in my daughter’s room after she had gone to bed, setting something down, and finding Saint watching me. My daughter’s service dog. He had draped his head over her waist, and when I looked at him, he held my gaze, steady, calm, certain. As if to say: “I’ve got her now. We can do this.”

Lord, he was special.

We never stop worrying. We never stop praying or checking in. But the role shifts. And learning to hold that with grace, for yourself and for them, is one of the harder things about this season.

Be gentle with yourself, parents. It is a lot.

Be gentle with them too. They are riding an emotional roller coaster of their own. They are straddling childhood and adulthood, and we see glimpses of both, sometimes in the same afternoon. These emotional, fragile yet fiercely strong humans are in our care for such a brief time.

This is a big part of why senior photography is so dear to my heart.

It is my job and my privilege to help you freeze time, even for just a moment. So that someday, when the house is a little too quiet and you are wondering where the years went, you can look back and recall all of it. The good and the hard. The immense joy and the heartache. The celebrations, the milestones, and the things you never saw coming.

I am a storyteller. Getting to know your kids, being invited into their lasts, and telling their stories through my lens is a gift I do not take lightly.

Thank you for sharing your lasts with me.

With so much love for this season, Jen

If you are in this season right now, I would love to be part of it. Senior portrait sessions are booking now for summer and fall. Shoot me a DM on Instagram or visit jenniferdenton.com to learn more about the experience.