Aaron & Mandy [Senior Photography, McKeesport, PA]

the year 2006 was a big year for me.

i got my driver's license.

started going to college.

and got my first "real" job.

which is where i met Dory.

at first, while I was doubling going to both high school & college, i only worked the closing shifts at KFC. but once summer rolled around, i began working in the mornings - which were the shifts Dory owned.

she ruled KFC. and i don't mean with an iron first or anything like that.

she wasn't the general manager or even the assistant - but she knew everything. and she kept that place in line.

and she still does :)

i worked at KFC for a little over 2 years before i took my internship with disney world and moved to florida.

in those 2 years, Dory & i became good friends.

and we rocked that place.

seriously.

and i loved going to work and being able to work with her. even though she was my manager - she was also one of my good friends and i couldn't imagine working somewhere where someone like her wasn't my boss. she has honestly been my standard for a good boss ever since [and she set a high standard if you can't tell :)]

almost every day those 2 years i worked with her, i heard about her kids.

she has twins - aaron and amanda. and they were [and are] both the joy & pain of her life :)

she would get calls from them, calls from the school, calls from her husband about them - i totally felt like i knew her kids even though i had never met them.

and last week i finally got to meet them.

dory left me a message on my facebook wall a while back, asking if i could please do her kids senior photos sometime this summer when i was down visiting my parents.

to which my reaction was, what!? her kids can't be seniors already!

somehow, they grew up really fast and they're about to start their senior year of high school.

and they're just as cool as their mom :)

Aaron has plans to move down to florida and go to school for music production.

this kid is major talented - i think he could probably play any instrument his heart desires, as he currently plays: drums, trumpet, bass, guitar, and more.

and he writes his own music too - it's good - i know because he played me some :)

ahh the perks of being a photographer :)

and his sister Mandy - watch out world, she's just as sassy as her mama.

Mandy has plans to stick around the area and go to school to be either a vet's assistant or a full blown veterinarian.

i totally remember Dory telling me how gifted Mandy seemed with animals, even when she was a little girl, and she wants to stretch that gifting into a career which i think is fabulous!

and the "sticking around the area" part makes her mom really happy :)

  

hehe: i asked them what kind of a relationship they have with each other - being twins and all.

they honestly admitted that they have their good days & bad days - days when they hate each other and days when they might like each other a little bit.

com'on though - they definitely look like the best of friends though, don't they?

Aaron & Mandy:

thanks so much for letting me hang out with ya'll last week - i had a BLAST and wish you all the best of luck on your journey ahead into the college world! you guys are going to do amazing, i know it :)

and Dory:

i miss you - and i will definitely be taking you up on that invitation for lunch next time i'm down :)