Corbin Gurkin

I’ve been a momma for about two months now and here’s what I know: Being a mother has made me love my husband more. People have often told me that the love you have for a child is so much greater than that which you can have for a partner but I feel like it’s only enhanced my affection for Thatcher - seeing him in his element, becoming the most dear father to Emerson, he has never seemed more at ease with anything. One love hasn’t replaced the other, it’s just become better and deeper and more connected than before. I’ve also learned that the me that existed two months ago is still very much present. My love for photography and my work and my life of travel remains - the experience of it all has just become a little different. Documenting my son is a joy, traveling with him and seeing things through his eyes is magical and somehow makes the memories more poignant because I know I’m saving them for him right now, and leaving to go on a job also gives me a necessary pause away from him in which I’m able to completely immerse myself in a project and cherish the return to my independent self. A few months before I got married, Thatcher and I drove over the bridge home to Johns Island and I irrationally burst into tears and said “I’ll never be able to just pick up and move to France now”. I was mourning some loss of my wanderlust self and I’m sure Thatcher said that’s absurd and of course you can move to France if you’d like and becoming a wife isn’t taking away the part of you that’s a fiercely independent, strong-minded live-out-of-her-suitcase sort of woman. So now again, becoming a mother sometimes makes me ask the metaphorical “Can I pick up and move to France” and I’m quite happy knowing Emerson already has a passport and we're starting out on a beautiful journey together...and maybe France is in our future. #mothersday