Hello
I love this photo. As a father, as a photographer, as a story-teller, this unscripted moment with our 9-month-old son Myles and a complete stranger in a medieval village in Tuscany encapsulates our feelings about traveling in Italy and the love of people.
When our children were 3 years old and 9 months we spent a month traveling throughout Italy and from the moment we landed our fears of traveling with young children were laid to rest when we discovered it was easier and more welcoming living in Italy with kids than it is in Canada. The people are so welcoming, and they make it easy to take your kids with you everywhere. I'm sure it helps that we have some pretty cute kids, but wherever we went our kids were "taken" to be shown around restaurants, shops, museums... they love kids and welcome families.
One afternoon while visiting the village of San Gimignano (which we highly recommend) we found a road off the beaten path and were taking some pictures of the two of our kids together and as Myles wasn't able to walk and really not crawling much yet we left him in the spot while we reviewed some photos with our other son Jack and an elderly lady while walking up the road stopped to say hi to Myles. I love the joy on her face, I love the look in Myles's eye, I love that he has the ties of the hat in his mouth, and every time I see this photo it brings joy to my heart. Almost enough to have another child... almost :D.