This beautiful family recently moved to Washington, DC, after spending their entire married lives and life as a family several states away. DC was entirely new to them. If any of you all have done this before, uprooting your family from the community you know and have relied on as you’ve become parents… that’s a really big deal.

My husband and I relocated for two years when we had one kid and one on the way. When we first left, I felt like I wanted to keep one foot in the door back at “home.” We didn’t sell our old house, but rented it out, assuming we’d return after business school. So I kept the “home” address in my car GPS set as our DC address. I caveated every explanation of where we lived — we were in North Carolina, but I still worked remotely for my company in DC and we intended to return there. We spent Christmas in DC, went up for big events for friends and family.

But about nine months into North Carolina residency, something shifted. I was ready to embrace my current residence, and I became proud of it. Now looking back, that time away from “home,” where we sought out and built our new local community and got to know a new city with young kids, is some of my most cherished time.

For this new DC family, this photo shoot symbolized so much of those feelings. They were embracing that they’re now a DC family, that they’ve adjusted and have worked hard to assemble their village here. It’s really, really hard work, and it can have ups and downs. But we grow so much from this experience, as a parent and as a family. I loved capturing that pivotal time for this wonderful family — enjoy this peek at their photo shoot.

Kate Gelatt