Photo credit: Nathaniel Friel

There are special places you return to in your heart time and time again, and for my 8-year-old son Nathaniel and I, one of them is Great Neck Park.

Years of memories are tucked behind every corner of this sprawling, 70-acre park situated along the banks of the Lynnhaven Bay. Its wooded pathways and scenic gazebo bay view hooked my son and I from the beginning, and each season change always brings forth new points of wonder.

Before my son was born, I had only visited Great Neck Park once with my husband Skip. That was 16 years ago and my how things have changed. Little did I realize that one day I would be wheeling a stroller down those paths and marveling at my infant son’s first reactions to the rustling of leaves, the scampering of squirrels, and the melodies of birds. What a sensory delight!

Together we’ve explored every inch of this special park, hunting down leaves for Fall Cub Scout projects, gathering sticks for our fireplace, playing baseball, and nurturing our mutual love of sunsets and photography.

Photo credit: Sherry Friel

After getting my first Nikon DSLR a couple years ago, I happily handed over my compact camera to  Nathaniel. We headed out one evening to see if we could take some pretty sunset photos. I was so excited about my expensive new toy that I honestly was not paying attention the photos my son was taking with that small camera. That night, we uploaded our photos and watched the magic explode on the computer screen. My son managed to capture some pretty extraordinary sunset views and entered one of them into the citywide Reflections Contest for visual arts. To our delight he won second place and as a result became even more interested in taking photographs.

It’s a magical thing to witness the very beginnings of a child’s passions. I hope my son will continue to love photography and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. That one photograph he took at Great Neck Park further sparked our interest in capturing interesting cloud formations, sunrises and sunsets. I recently compiled our efforts and shared them online at Daily Epiphanies—a personal blog dedicated to photography and everyday miracles.

Photo credit: Sherry Friel

I know one thing for certain—Great Neck Park will continue to be a special place for my son. It’s where he progressed from stroller to bike in the blink of an eye. Where he first learned to ride that bike without training wheels and where he slammed his first baseball. Recently Nathaniel and his Dad went for a walk at the park. As they approached the gazebo, he turned to my husband and said, “that would be a cool place to get married.” Something tells me we will be returning to this sacred space for a very long time—perhaps one day for a wedding!