Why did you fall in love?

You've seen the photos social media tells you to have. You've seen it all.

What you might not have seen is that there is another way. Another way to document your days. Where the authentic is given full reign.

Ask yourself this: why did you fall in love with your life?

Why, despite the hard work and perseverance required, do you keep at it, day after day? Why do you celebrate the small wins? Why does your life have so much meaning to you?

Because it's personal.

Of course. You fell in love with your life because it is intensely personal. The hard-earned wins, the tears, the joys. Whether your life includes human children or furry ones, or grandchildren, or a forest and fields behind your home, or hard days at the office, or the open road. Your life is yours.

We are all human and we all yearn for kindness and for beauty. Still, no two people are alike. No two lives lived are identical.

So... do you remember why you fell in love with your life?

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Below are some photographs of a Brampton family, remembering why they fell in love with their life.

When Narmeen wrote to tell me that the photographs brought tears to her eyes, it reminded me why I fell in love with my occupation. Why I turned from the meticulous academic study of families to the photojournalistic and unbound documenting of them: the celebration of all that is unique and beautiful in each person, each family, each bond.

Take a look, and imagine.