Adolescent Joy

Artist: Dawne Olson
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Adolescent Joy

I can assure you that tonight there is not a picture I’ve put up that means more to me than this one. It was difficult to adjust the focus as my tears were fogging up the viewfinder. Pulling them in with the 300 mm lense…I knew it was too dark out. I knew the pictures weren’t going to be technically “good”.
Both girls had come into the house crying earlier in the evening. Trembling… bruised.. grass stained. They had made a sharp turn with the 4-wheeler and flipped it at the end of our driveway. All of our kids have been driving this four wheeler since they were about seven years old. Lately I’ve watched the girls grow more daring. More bold. Our warnings to “slow down” and “stay in the yard” began to carry less weight in the lightness of their own sense of immortality.

Aside from some minor “road rash” they are essentially unharmed.
Thank God.

It was a typical friday in Fall in many ways: Indian summer weather with a blazing orange sunset and harvest moon. Our family of six, spread out now as the kids grow older. My oldest boy working at the grocery store in town. My other son playing at a football game in a town an hour away. My husband bringing the hay in from the alfalfa field as the sun touches the horizon. And me with my camera watching my girls and our two dogs race up and down the driveway in youthful exhuberance.

Every night when I lay my head down on my pillow at night… I know I wont’ sleep until the last one has walked in the door. I worry about them driving. I worry about them getting injured in sports. I worry about their grades. I worry about their wrecklessness. I worry that they don’t sleep enough, eat enough, study enough. What mother doesn’t. Right?

I’ve seen a lot of kids carried off the football field. Every game I pray that it won’t be mine. My husband works with the Sheriff’s Department on weekends in a college town. Lots of drinking and partying. Lots of stories about kids in car wrecks. I pray every time they turn the key to go somewhere. And all my life I’ve grown up hearing stories of farm accidents. We all grew up around the tractors and 4-wheelers and dirt bikes. My kids are no different. As I watched the girls skipping up the driveway tonight, I knew that one prayer in particular had been answered today:
God, please keep them safe.
I know this is long. But if you have kids, (or really just anyone you love!)............... I hope this will remind you to pull them closer.

Adolescent Joy belongs to the following groups:

Live, Love, Dream: , Rural Around The Globe, South Dakota, The Woman Photographer **7 Submissions a week only please** and Vibrant and Vivid Color Available for sale as

Greeting Cards

Dawne Olson

This ones for the girls! To mothers and daughters and sisters and your loyal canine companions. Here’s to adolescence! Flip-flops and pajama pants, tank tops and pony-tails….
pixie3

These are spectacular photo’s not only for the reason that you wrote, which are a blessing indeed, but also for the carefree, fun and enjoyment that is being seen here!! Well fdone in capturing such splendid joy in these photo’s :)
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you!! I appreciate your comment (and I just love your avatar!)
AndreaMarie

Dawne, you write beautifully, these captures are beautiful, you are beautiful. Thank you for sharing, thank you for the reminder to pull them closer. Excellent!
Dawne Olson replied

Thanks Andrea… sometimes a little ‘scare’ is a very effective reminder!
Di Jenkins

This is great! Joy, colour, vibrance and kids thankfully still in one piece!! LOL!
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you for the comment! Yes, the days of autumn always seem so much more alive to me.
fashionforlove

Thanks for sharing…. you are blessed !
Dawne Olson replied

Thanks! (Hey! i got the rainbow tree T last week! I LOVE IT!! Will try to post in buyers booth sometime this week!!)
velveteagle

Oh you are so right Dawne.. Such a moment to capture.. Eternal.. Now you just remember this and many more… Be happy you have had what you got. Some do not have that choice.. Most of all don’t worry so much if you can find more time to laugh.. Life goes too fast to tarry away on excess worry.. Great work .. Ha.. Love the light..
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you for those words!! (I DO worry too much… terrible habit… passed on in my genes I think! lol)
Craig Shillington

Awwwww Dawne!! Delightful :) Takes me back :) :) VBS
Dawne Olson replied

Much thanks Craig! I’m so glad it did that for ya! xx
Cyril Marchand

Simplicity… Just a wee break in time !
I do like shot like this one, telling a story…
Well done Dawne !
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you Cyril… I’m always trying to measure my words and what images to put up…. asking myself “is it too much?” or “will it make a difference?” I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
mikrin

What a fun capture Dawne!! Wonderful work!!!
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you… kids are just so resilient.. easily forgetting what moments before was a crisis!
Emily Peak

Thanks for making me tear up first thing this am!
You captured a wonderful moment and I understand your sentiments!
Hugs to you,my friend!
Dawne Olson replied

Aw!! thanks Emily… I’m so glad you were touched! (I was a little shook up myself so I appreciate the empathy!! lol) xx
Douglas Hunt

What a joyful moment! So glad you shared it with us in words and photos.
Dawne Olson replied

Thanks for the comment Douglas.. it was my pleasure!
Joanne Bradley

And don’t forget sleepovers! lol! A wonderful capture of those joyous moments experienced in the transition from child to woman!!!! Gosh, if we could only bottle this!!!!
Dawne Olson replied

AH! True! true! Sleep overs every other week it seems! The giggling and secrets… yes its a crazy wonderful time. Thanks for sharing Joanne!
BarbaraManis

Wonderful shot!
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you very much Barbara!!
Yool

Great shot and story Dawne !!!!! You are a great mum!!!!
Dawne Olson replied

Thanks Mariola… (truth be known, I always feel inadequate for the demands of the job!) they are a blessing though. thank you for your visits to my work!
Dee Boylan

What a great photo…...bless them…..xxx
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you Dee… all your remarks and your visit are so much appreciated!! xx
fashionforlove

Great news !!!! I want to seeeeeeeeeeeee it !!!
Thanks !
All the best. God Bless you !
Paul Scarsella

amazing beautiful capture!!!
Shell59

Dawne, You have a knack of bringing images to life! That is the
rarest of gifts I think. You capture the ‘fruits’ of God’s creation
in pictures and with stories. Such an Incredible Portrait is this!
xo
Tom Vaughan

you’ve captured so much in just a bunch of pixels… beautiful!
Dawne Olson replied

lol… how true Tom! Thanks so much.
Jan Landers

this is priceless…..touched my heart for sure…..a moment in time you will always treasure….thank you for sharing this wonderful part of your life….
Dawne Olson replied

Oh Jan! Thank you so so much for this (and so many other) wonderful remarks! Treasure it I will, and it was my pleasure to share it with you!
CassPics

Spectacular work! Instant fav
Larasolnishko

How beautiful your family, what a precious life you live in the country side. None of the kids who grown in the city never able to experience that joy. That photo just a reminder for me for my own beautiful adolescence time in country side in Siberia. it was great 3 month of summer I remember all winter long.
jujubean

I love everything about this shot! Girls just being girls!! wonderful!
FrozenMoments

Precious shot, and very true writing. Inspirational.
Sheila Pasket

AWESOME!! You captured the best moment in time as an adolescence….very well done!! Thanks for sharing your story as well…very touching!!
satya4u

Dawne you have captured a moment which is a true reflection of an adolescence, a memoir so nostalgic and precious.
amarica

Congratulations Dawne on being featured in the All Out Emotions Group!!
Cora Wandel

Dawn, great image and title of the adolescent joy you captured, and great writing as well. Yes, God keep them safe. – Cora
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you Cora.. Its a wild and wonderful trip—raising kids!
Molly O'Bryon-...

4 wheelers scare me so much thanks for sharing your story and what a wonderful capture you managed through it all!
Dawne Olson replied

Yes the ATV’s deserve a ‘healthy fear’... some respect for what danger is possible… and unfortunately sometimes that gets ignored and results in tragedies. Thank you for your visit!
EarthGipsy

Love it! What fun they are having. Such a joyful capture Dawne.
Dawne Olson replied

Thanks! They certainly had all of my attention that evening. Such joy is really contagious. They’re full of life!
David Parkin

Hi there,

I think this is an amazing image and am pleased to feature it in our group.

Well done friend.
Dawne Olson replied

Wow! David that is such an honor! Thank you for featuring it and your kinds words.
maremarie

This is beautiful, so full of happiness! And for me it’s so very American, too, in a most positive way (the landscape and the gravel road look typical). Congratulations on your feature! :-)
Dawne Olson replied

Thank you!! Very much appreciated :0)
joyousmoon

Beautiful capture…it says a million words!
joyousmoon

Nicely done…Congratulations on your feature!