A Turtle Tale
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV • Lens: Sigma Art 35 mm • F-Stop: 2.8 • Shutter: 1/400
Color Corrected in Lightroom with Jbalough Presets
Last year I had scheduled a maternity session with Mark & Laryssa Roberson. When I had first met them, I was touched by their kind nature, the love struck look in their eyes and their bright smiles.
On the outside they seemed like any other couple that met, fell in love and was ready to begin their precious journey into parenthood. But there was so much more to their story.
When Laryssa and Mark first met they were both stationed at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Mark and Laryssa had decided to take a trip to a carnival shortly before they deployed. At the end of the day, a tiny stuffed turtle was in their hands after winning a game. Little did they know, it would be the beginning of a family tradition.
As Mark began getting everything ready to leave for deployment and their time together was growing short, Laryssa put the little turtle in one of his bags. Mark didn't notice the cute hitchhiker until they had landed at their new station. Mark deployed December of 2012 and Laryssa deployed in January of 2013.
"It reminded him of me and that it was just a deployment. We would be back together soon. He took it on every mission with him." "On my deployment we had little (real) turtles that we and the polish would find on missions.
There was one that was brought back to the fob. It had a little box habitat and we would feed him, so my husband had his little turtle and I had one near me too."
"It has since turned into our little baby's nursery theme, along with the colors of blue and green. We just think it's perfect for a little boy and it makes us smile."
Their turtle made me smile too, but their story didn't stop there. With every happy ending comes something that will always bring a tear to your eye.
I had noticed half way through our session together that both Mark and Laryssa were wearing black metal bracelets with a name etched into them. I finally asked the significance of the bracelets and learned that they were wearing KIA Memorial bracelets for some of their dear friends lost to war. Their facial expressions were both sad, but so very proud.
They had let me in on a little secret after they had finished explaining to me their bracelets; the name of their little boy. Mark & Laryssa had later told me the name of their son and made me promise not to tell anyone until after he was born.
Well, He was born on May 26th, 2015 at 8 pounds 2 oz and 20 inches long. Everyone welcome Tristan Wayne Roberson into our world!
Tristan was named after his Parent's Best Friend, the Best Man at their wedding and an American Hero, SGT Tristan M. Wade. SGT Tristan M. Wade was Killed in Action March 22nd, 2013 while stationed in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.
This family has a story of true love, sadness and never ending friendships. I am truly blessed to know Mark & Laryssa and I am honored to be able to tell their story. Baby Tristan is named after a true Hero. Congratulations to you both! He will be so proud of his name. Thank you both for your sacrifices and your journey. Always Remember, Never Forget.
The story published above is one of my favorite stories and I am still proud to this day to say that I was able to grow along side this family and hope to for many years to come.
I spent an unusually warm December evening this past year with Mark, Laryssa & yes, you guessed it! Baby Tristan :) They drove 2.5 hours to participate in my Christmas Mini Special last year and I was over the moon to see them and how big Tristan had grown!
Thanks for joining us :)
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