Mackenzie is 21

Some of you will remember my granddaughter, Mackenzie. She has literally grown up on Daily Photos. The 9th picture I posted after joining Daily Photos, was a funny little portrait that she & I did with a new light I was trying to figure out how to use. The photo was taken on Sept. 19, 2009 so it’s almost exactly 10 years ago. If you’d like to see how cute she was - here’s the link: https://www.jmcqueenphoto.com/Daily-Photos/Daily-photos-2010/i-tM9LhgN/A Fast forward Sept. 1st/19 when I took this picture. We were out for dinner for a double celebration - Mackenzie’s 21st birthday plus a family farewell for her. In a few days, she would be leaving for Ghana, West Africa, to spend 3 months volunteering with a program called Flower that does workshops in schools to encourage girls to stay in school & complete their high school education (most of them will drop out before finishing). This is her practicum for her degree in Human Rights & International Development at the Univeristy of Winnipeg, which she hopes to complete next year. She has been there for almost a month now & is doing well. There’s been some bumps along the way (even the trip itself was a grueling 24 hours) but she is strong & smart & very determined and I am just so very proud of her. As Linda says… 'it’s hard on us Grannie’s when our little girls grow up & we have to send them off into the big wide world' - with a smile & a hug & a heart full of love & hope…. and all we can do is try not to worry (too much)… :) 10/03/19