“And now… I’m glad I didn’t know… the way it all would end… the way it all would go…” –Garth Brooks, The Dance

As a senior photographer, if you’d told me last summer that by spring of 2020, right as every senior at TCU is typically growingOBSESSED with having one last walk through campus for their college senior photos, that our entire world would go in to quarantine, I’da told you you were crazy. And then, when you told me you were serious, I might have started to wonder if this year’s Campus Reps would even want to continue their roles. Would it be worth their time if they knew it would all come to a premature ending? Would it really be worth their investment? Would it be worth ours?

The answer turned out to be a resounding YES.

And yet, you can imagine the irony for Kenzi, Sydney, Mackenzie, Marley, Caitlyn and I this weekend, as we went through the images from what may very well be their final shoot as a Campus Rep team via Zoom Video Call, spread out across 6 different cities due to the impact of the Coronavirus. The shoot took place the Thursday before Spring Break, right before most TCU seniors would be leaving for a week of vacation, only to have the rug pulled out from under their senior year by COVID-19, many of them not even returning to campus.

When we got to the photo on the right above, one of them commented, “Hey look! There’s us, saying goodbye to our senior year without even realizing it!”

We laughed. But we knew it was true.

And yet, just like the old Garth Brooks chorus ends, for these Campus Reps (and so many of their TCU Senior friends), they coulda missed the pain, but they’da had to miss the dance.

For this year’s Campus Reps, “The Dance” brought so much more than some nice photos.

“The Dance” brought incredible new friendships.

“The Dance” brought priceless memories.

“The Dance” brought laughter, and joy, and beauty.

“The Dance” was worth it.

As TCU seniors, now spread out around the globe, fix their eyes on a glorious reunion on August 8 for a rescheduled graduation (HUGE shout out to TCU’s Chancellor for making this a live event and not a virtual one), I’m so thankful to have shared a small part of our 5 incredible reps’ senior experience. They are brilliant, tenacious, and resilient. Creative, engaging, and inspiring. Joyful, generous, and life-giving.

Sydney, Mackenzie, Caitlyn, Kenzi, and Marley… THANK YOU for the opportunity to team up with you this year. Praying favor and blessing over your futures, and anxiously awaiting your arrival back in Fort Worth as soon as the “Shelter in Place” order lifts!

Love you guys!!! Congratulations!!!