Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Otherwise engaged...

Asking the question
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
June 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Every parent wants their child to be happy.

She is indeed.

Which, when you agree to spend a lifetime with your best friend, is as it should be.

Our hearts are full.

#engaged #family #everything

Tuesday, June 02, 2026

4 years of Lilly

Princess grows up
Dryden, ON
June 2026
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Dearest Lilly,

It was just yesterday that we first met you.

Just yesterday we looked into your eyes and fell in love.

Just yesterday we held your squirming form and felt the promise of limitless potential.

On your fourth birthday, both everything and nothing has changed.

You are a force of nature, a bright, sweet, kind girl who lights up every room.

A fierce protector of your little sister and your entire family.

An infinitely curious soul who never stops exploring, questioning, and learning.

Yet just as we did when you were born, we fall in love every time we see you. And we revel in watching you turn all that limitless potential into an unforgettably extraordinary life.

We are so proud of the remarkable person you are becoming, and we love you to the Moon and back.

Happy birthday, little one.

#family #everything

Sunday, May 10, 2026

The bestest mom

The definition of motherhood
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


I’m a lucky guy. Not only did I marry well beyond my station in life, but I’ve had a front-row seat to an incredible mom.

From the moment we first knew we would become parents, Debbie has been there for our kids in ways I can barely put into words. She loves them without limit, is there for them anytime and anywhere, and will happily tell anyone within earshot how proud she is of them.

She is the definition of empathy, love, kindness, and fierce protection, and is the gravity that keeps our family focused and together. She’s taught us all what a real home can feel like, and it hardly seems sufficient to have one day a year to recognize all she does and is.

She’s the kind of mom all kids wish they could have.

#LiveLaughLevy #ldnont #mothersday #family #everything

Friday, February 13, 2026

When fire touches your family

Our son, Zach, and daughter-in-law, Michaela, were woken up early yesterday morning by 3-year-old Lilly: Claira’s room was on fire.

The good news, if there is any, is everyone is OK. Zach ran through the flames, and snatched her from her crib. They were out of the house by the time the fire trucks and EMS rolled up.

They were taken by ambulance to the hospital, and despite some smoke inhalation, seem to be fine.

The bad news: the damage is extensive and the house is uninhabitable. Rebuilding will be a long road of dealing with insurance companies and contractors. It is a nightmare come to life.

We often say it’s just stuff, that it can be replaced, while life cannot be. And that is indeed true here. But, still, that’s our family. We’d wish this on no one.

The word, hero, keeps bouncing through my head. A three-year-old who had the fortitude to alert her parents before the smoke alarm even went off. A dad who didn’t even think about himself as he ran straight into a burning room and grabbed an almost-14-month-old from her crib. A mom who keeps it together for her traumatized family after the unthinkable has happened. The universe is testing them all.

Whenever anyone asks us about them, we tell them what great kids they are. What incredible parents they have become. We talk about the remarkably sweet and insightful kids they’re raising. The home they’ve built around them.

It hurts to imagine the what-ifs, to think about the heartbreak of everything you’ve worked for being put in such peril. But we’re thankful they have the support of family, friends, and community to rebuild. We’re thankful we have them, period.

Saturday, December 13, 2025

The first year of Claira...

Why hello there!
London, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Claira turns one today.

A year of thoughtfully taking in the scene through her huge blue eyes.

A year of smiles bright enough to light up the room - and everyone in it.

A year of laughing with her favourite people - most loudly when it’s her big sister Lilly.

A year of exhibiting an uncannily chill sense of calmness no matter where she may be.

A year of starting to move and explore and speak and give toothy grins.

A year of weaving herself around the hearts of everyone she meets.

A year that went by in a blink. And makes us wish we could slow it down just a bit.

A year that closes out the first chapter in a charmed life, and sets the stage for even more stories to be told in the years ahead.

#LiveLaughLevy #family #everything

Related:
Her first sunset, January 2025

Friday, September 12, 2025

28 years later...

Celebrate the little things
London, ON
February 2025
This photo originally shared on Instragram


Before she became all the things she is today, she was our kid.

And as I held her tiny, squirming form for the first time 28 years ago today, my only wish was that she would turn the limitless potential every newborn has into a life of purpose.

28 years on, purpose is Dahlia’s middle name. And creativity. And drive. And honesty. And humour. And love of family.

She appreciates the preciousness of time, and looks out for others even if they aren’t always looking out in return. She inherited her mom’s innate kindness and made it her own.

So as we celebrate her birthday, I can’t help but think back to that first moment I held her, all bundled in pink, and wished those wishes every parent wishes for their kids. 28 years on, she’s doing a pretty good job making those wishes come true.

Happy birthday, Peanut. Keep making the world your own.

#LiveLaughLevy #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #happy #birthday #birthdaygirl #happybirthday #parenthood #life #family #everything

Related:
27 and counting... September 2024
Another great year, September 2023
No longer just a kid, September 2020
22 trips around the sun, September 2019
21 trips around the sun, September 2018
20 years of Peanut, September 2017
19 going on... September 2016
Sweet 16 and counting, September 2013
Peanut grows up, September 2011
Reflective birthday girl, September 2010
She grows up, September 2009
Eleventeen years old, September 2008
She hits double digits, September 2007
Peanut turns 8, September 2005

Sunday, September 07, 2025

6 years of family...


6 years today, and you’re both just getting started.

We are so proud of the family you’ve grown, the home you’ve built, the careers you’ve pursued, the connections you’ve made. And we can’t wait to see what joys you’ll craft in the years to come.

We love you beyond words. Happy, happy anniversary.

#LiveLaughLevy #dryden #ontario #throwback #wedding #anniversary #parenthood #family #everything

Related:
4 years of family, September 2023
A year of Lilly, June 2022
Lilly at 6 months, December 2022
Their third... September 2022
Making 26 his own... October 2020
Their first... September 2020
Almost a teenager, October 2006

Saturday, July 05, 2025

33 years...

Where it all began...
Laval, QC
July 5, 1992
This photo originally shared on Instagram


I’ve been pinching myself for 33 years, which is how long ago this photo was taken.

That she agreed to marry me at all remains one of those unanswerable mysteries of life, because she was out of my league then, and she still is.

That I’ve loved her more with each passing day, however, is no mystery at all. She makes it easy. Fun, even, despite my doofus-like personality.

I don’t know what I did to deserve someone like her, but I’m thankful our paths crossed, and thankful I get to spend every day with her.

This life thing is unpredictable, with a fair bit of queasiness thrown into the mix. Yet navigating it with her is an indescribable privilege, and nothing makes me happier or more proud than to reflect on the story we’ve written thus far together - and the chapters that still lie ahead.

Happy anniversary, sweets. Thank you seems inadequate for all you’ve given me since we first met, but it’ll have to do for now.

Love,

Me

#montreal #ldnont #july5 #blink #LiveLaughLevy #family #everything

Related:
32 years... July 2024
31 years of us, July 2023
30 years... July 2022
29 years... July 2021
28 years... July 2020
27 years... July 2019
23 years on, July 2015
22 years... July 2014
21 years on... July 2013
20 years on... July 2012
Sweet 16, July 2008
How many years? July 2007

Saturday, June 14, 2025

It's Stroke Month. Would you know what to do?

Where it all began
Middlesex Centre, ON
August 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Dear friends,

Did you know that it’s Stroke Month in Canada?

Did you also know that I had one? On a sunny summer afternoon almost 12 years ago, I turned my head the wrong way while riding my bike and accidentally tore my left carotid artery. A few hours later, clots from the injury broke free and migrated into my brain, touching off a stroke that paralyzed me on my right side and zapped my ability to speak.

Thanks to my wife who recognized the signs, I got the help I needed and was able to make an almost full recovery. I’m lucky in ways so many other stroke victims are not.

So I’m once again working with the Heart and Stroke Foundation to raise stroke awareness, primarily by sharing my story with my media partners.

While I usually talk tech with them, this month I’m sharing my experience in the hope that others will learn from it - and hopefully take the time to learn the signs and have important conversations with friends and family. 39% of Canadians, for example, don’t know what FAST is. That needs to change.

So I’ll be joining #CBCRadio programs across the country this weekend, and will continue to share links to interviews with my full range of media peeps in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, please visit heartandstroke.ca to learn more.

Thank you,

Carmi

Related:
START HERE: So, about that stroke - August 2014
#3: More stroke stuff... - August 2014
Stroke survivor shares his story, London Free Press, Aug 14, 2014
Coming up on Canada AM - Lookahead to February 2015 interview
Winding down the day that was - February 2015 - incl link to Canada AM/Heart/Stroke Month segment
Two years on... - August 2015
Three bonus years - August 2016
Four years later - August 2017
Five years on - August 2018
Seven years on, August 2020
Eight years on, August 2021
Nine years on... August 2022
Ten years on... August 2023
11 years on... August 2024

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Graduation, unlocked

So proud of him...
London, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Noah’s middle names might be Mayer and Gideon, but I’ll humbly suggest we add tenacity to the list.

That’s how he navigated his undergrad, and we are beyond proud not only of what he accomplished in making it to the convocation stage today, but in how he conducted himself along the way.

Parenthood isn’t always easy or linear. But with a kid like him, it’s easy to appreciate how rewarding the journey can ultimately be.

Way to go, kiddo. We can’t wait to see what your next chapter brings.

#uwo #western #university #graduate #family #everything

Related:
Why I'm thankful... October 2021

Monday, June 02, 2025

3 years of Lilly

Focused
Dryden, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


This is Lilly at 3.

A force of nature whose impact defies the brief time she’s been around.

An endless source of energy who could seemingly power the planet if given the chance.

A kind soul who looks out for others.

An old soul who speaks and acts in ways well beyond her years.

A funny banana who laughs from her belly.

A fierce protector of her little sister.

A spark of life who brightens any room she’s in.

A tiny ball of limitless potential whose story is just getting started.

#family #everything

Related:

Related:
2 years of Lilly, June 2024
4 years of family, September 2023
A year of Lilly, June 2023
Lilly at 6 months, December 2023
Their third... September 2022

Sunday, May 11, 2025

My favourite mom

Her
Toronto, ON
November 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


She is the very epicentre of our family’s soul. If families could be shaped by gravity, she would be its source.

Hallmark says it’s Mother’s Day, but if we were to truly honour her, we wouldn’t save it up for one day of the year.

We realize how lucky we are to have her. Not every family, or relationship, or life, is as charmed as ours has been.

All the more reason to hold on to what we’ve got, and cherish her and it no matter what the calendar might say.

#LiveLaughLevy #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #mothersday #mom #life #parenthood #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone #photography


Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Claira joins the family

Lilly's little sister
Dryden, ON
December 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Why hello! I’m new on this planet, so I’m still figuring out how cameras and social media work. My name is Claira Jane Sutton Levy, and after hanging around with my Mommy (you know her as Michaela) for most of the year, they cancelled my lease on December 13th and suddenly everything looked and sounded a lot different.

You might know my Daddy - he goes by the name Zach - and he and my Mommy are always around when I need something. Which is often. They’re really good at this family thing.

I have a big sister, Lilly, who’s been waiting what seems like forever for me to come out. It’ll be a little while before I can walk and talk and play, but already I know I’m loved beyond words, and it’s only a matter of time before she and I rule the world. Or the living room, for starters.

I’ve already learned a few things in my brief time here, like how everyone holds little rectangles of glass in their hands and points them at you, how they find it funny when I squirm, and how my dog Piper’s head is bigger than my entire body yet she already hovers nearby like a giant, gentle protector.

Right now I’m focused on eating and sleeping and growing and looking cute and being on the receiving end of these things they call hugs and kisses. It’s nice to be held. It’s nice to be on the outside. It’s nice to be part of a family. Especially mine.

I’ll share more soon. I’ll have stories, I promise.

Lots of love,

Claira

Saturday, October 26, 2024

30 years as parents...

30 years ago today, this little guy fought his way into the world and into our hearts.

That it seems like yesterday only reinforces just how quickly time can pass, and how much Zach has crammed into a life now entering its fourth decade.

He made us parents, and taught us what it’s like to love someone more than life itself. He grew into the best big brother and protector of Dahlia and Noah - and their best friend above all. He married his own best friend, and has blossomed into an incredible husband to Michaela and father to Lilly.
He works relentlessly hard, laughs from his belly, and defines kindness for anyone lucky enough to know him. Indeed, whoever knows him loves him. He makes it easy.

He was a dream baby, and in adulthood he’s carved out his own dreams in his own inimitable style.

In the months to come, his family of 3 will become 4, and he’ll find new ways to add to his story. Happiest of birthdays, sweet boy. Never stop being you.

Love,

Dad

#family #everything

Related:
27 and counting, September 2024
4 decades of us, August 2024
32 years... July 2024
On fatherhood, June 2023

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

15 years...

Walking with his Zaydie
Laval, QC
August 2006
This photo originally shared on Instagram

My dad died 15 years ago yesterday. All day, I wrestled with whether or not I should write about it. Because if I write about every chronologically significant moment in my or my family’s history, it could easily become the only thing I ever share here.

But I also didn’t want to look back and wish I had had the opportunity to say something, but didn’t. So here we are.

Of my and my wife’s parents, his loss was our first, and as we navigated the days, weeks, and months that followed in what seemed like a fog, we at least had the benefit of our surviving parents and in-laws to lean on.

15 years on, the landscape is decidedly more stark. Debbie’s parents are no longer with us, and the passage of time has cruelly picked off even more branches of our family tree beyond that central trunk. We used to look to others for answers, but these days, all eyes seem to look to us. Now it feels like we’re the adults in the room.

I’d like to think my father was happy with what he accomplished and with what he left behind. I often look at this photo of him walking our son, Noah, then aged 6, near their place north of Montreal. Despite the rushed composition and blown highlights, it’s one of my favourite photos.

My dad lived long enough to see his grandchildren come into the world, and to thrive. They carry those memories forward as they establish themselves in their own life’s journeys. That’s a blessing in its own right, isn’t it?

In the day-to-day, he surrounded himself with friends, packed his calendar with adventures near and far, and always seemed to find his way into the middle of the limelight. He was easy to find in a crowded room. More importantly, he loved my mom.

Was he perfect? Far from it. But no one ever is, anyway, and in his perfectly well-intentioned imperfection, he established a pretty reasonable template for me to build from.

After 15 years, I remain thankful to have had him for as long as we did, and hope I’m not the only one thinking of him and churning the full spectrum of memories as we mark another year in a progression that only moves one direction. Away.

#ldnont #laval #montreal #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Related:
A milestone no one wants, September 2022
13 years... September 2022
12 years without dad, September 2021
When life ends, September 2020
10 years on... September 2019
7 years on... September 2016
5 years on... September 2014
2 years on... September 2011
A year, September 2010
2:23 a.m., September 23, 2009

Friday, September 13, 2024

Celebrate her today - and every day

Pretty woman
Port Stanley, ON
September 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Someone else in our family is celebrating a birthday today.

I didn’t know her on the day she was born, but still my life changed for the better with her arrival.

And as she marks the end of another year and the beginning of the next, I can’t help but think that the universe was smiling on us all when she first showed up.

She is the very centre of our family, the star around which we all move through our respective orbits, the place family and friends alike always seem to go when they need sanctuary, guidance, or a little bit of both.

Our kids know she’ll pick up the phone 24/7/365 - unless she’s already reached out to them first. She has a sense of family that can’t be described in words, and I’m in awe of her not only on her birthday, but every other day of the year.

Happy, happy birthday, my phenomenal Debbie - and thank you for making even the ordinary days worthy of celebration.

#LiveLaughLevy #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #happy #birthday #birthdaygirl #happybirthday #life #family #everything


Thursday, September 12, 2024

27 and counting...


In my mind’s eye, I’m still holding her for the first time, a munchkin who was so tiny that I wondered where the rest of her had gone.

If I close my eyes, I can still feel her squirming in my arms, her perfect little face an echo of her beautiful mom. I leaned in and listened to her first soft cries, a sweet voice that’s shaped the soundtrack of our family ever since.

We first met her 27 years ago today, and between then and now she’s grown into an accomplished, brilliantly creative, endlessly empathetic, limitlessly impressive young woman, the kind of daughter any parent would be proud to call theirs, the kind of person anyone would want to know, and be lucky enough to call a friend.

I wish I could explain how time seems to travel so quickly when your kids are rushing toward adulthood, but there aren’t enough words in the world to do it justice. All I really know is she’s made each of the ensuing 27 years indelibly memorable for all of use who’ve made the journey alongside her. Her stamp on our family was and is as indelible as her spirit.

Between her last birthday and this one, she’s graduated, started her dream job, and moved to Toronto to be with her bashert. A lot of milestones in a year for a girl I named Peanut the first time I saw her on a sonogram screen.

She doubtless already has plans for her next year, and we’re the blessed parents who get to watch and revel in where she goes and how she gets there.

Happy birthday, Peanut. They say the best is yet to come - and they’re indeed right, but only because you work so relentlessly hard to make the magic happen.

#LiveLaughLevy #ldnont #london #ontario #canada #happy #birthday #birthdaygirl #happybirthday #parenthood #life #family #everything

Related:
Another great year, September 2023
No longer just a kid, September 2020
22 trips around the sun, September 2019
21 trips around the sun, September 2018
20 years of Peanut, September 2017
19 going on... September 2016
Sweet 16 and counting, September 2013
Peanut grows up, September 2011
Reflective birthday girl, September 2010
She grows up, September 2009
Eleventeen years old, September 2008
She hits double digits, September 2007
Peanut turns 8, September 2005

Friday, July 05, 2024

32 years...

Bashert
Laval, QC
July 5, 1992
This photo originally shared on Instagram


32 years ago today, a beautiful woman took a leap of faith with a barely-out-of-his-childhood doofus.

I know anniversaries are good days for reflecting, for being thankful, for taking stock of the journey so far, for hoping for more of the journey ahead.

But I’ll be frank: I reflect every day. On her, on us, on how I’m still bewildered at my good fortune. At some point during any given day, I’ll just stop and ponder how we got here.

I take none of this, of us, for granted. Because I know how precious it all is, how nothing is ever guaranteed. How time is finite. How it feels like both forever and a blink. Together.

They say you should marry your best friend. And while all these years later I still struggle with who, precisely, “they” are, I can’t argue with that logic. We started out by sitting on her front porch, or on the phone, or under the nearest tree, or wherever we could find the space. And we’d talk. About anything and everything. Or about nothing at all. Until all hours of the night.

We still do. The stories have evolved - now including kids and grandkids who we couldn’t have even begun to imagine when we stood, kids ourselves, under the chuppah - but they flow just as easily, her voice dancing with mine as if we’ve been doing this forever.

Whatever I’m cooking up in my tumultuous brain, she’s the one I want to share it with first. She’s my muse, my editor, my litmus tester, my shadow, my mirror, my wingwoman, my all.

She was fearless then, leaping into a life with me that neither of us had even begun to author. And she’s fearless now, continuously laying down the roadmap for us to follow, always setting the tone for who we are and how we move through the days and years.

I look at photos from on and around that incredible day and I cherish all we’ve experienced together in the days since. At the same time I ache for who we’ve lost since then, for the stories that had to end before we wanted them to.

Then I remind myself that this is how this life thing works. Change is inevitable, and the lucky ones get to ride all that change - and opportunity, and joy, and success, and grief, and hellos, and goodbyes - with someone who gets them. Who speaks in words and silence.

She is the love of my life. I’ll never feel worthy of being so ridiculously lucky to have crossed her path and captured her orbit, but I’ll be forever thankful.

Because of her, I focus that much more on squeezing tiny joys out of tiny moments. Not everyone gets that, but she does. Implicitly. And I wouldn’t be who I am if she hadn’t said yes, hadn’t put on a dress, hadn’t agreed to leap into the unknown.

If I could go back in time, I’d change nothing. I’d grab her hand and jump as hard and as far and as fearlessly as we did then. As we’ve done every day since: together.

It’s one of the many things she’s taught me along the way. And one of the countless reasons I love her more with each passing day.

Happy anniversary, my love.

#montreal #ldnont #july5 #blink #LiveLaughLevy #family #everything

Related:
31 years of us, July 2023
30 years... July 2022
29 years... July 2021
28 years... July 2020
27 years... July 2019
23 years on, July 2015
22 years... July 2014
21 years on... July 2013
20 years on... July 2012
Sweet 16, July 2008
How many years? July 2007

Sunday, June 02, 2024

2 years of Lilly

More yogurt, please
Dryden, ON
June 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


This is Lilly at 2.

This is time moving faster than we might have once thought.

This is what limitless curiosity looks like.

This is the face of all that is possible.

This is joy.

#family #everything

Related:
4 years of family, September 2023
A year of Lilly, June 2023
Lilly at 6 months, December 2023
Their third... September 2022

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Yellow shopping carts in a frozen parking lot

Just pick one
Dryden, ON
January 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Shooting the ordinary has always been a bit of a thing for me. I call them in-between moments, when you’re busy going through the motions of everyday life and you want to remember the minutiae that would otherwise slip unnoticed into the past.

No one’s going to wax poetic about a line of yellow shopping carts in a frozen parking lot in northwestern Ontario. At least that’s not what we’ve been taught.

Instead, we’ve been conditioned to zero in on the spectacular and the familiar. Think CN Towers and Niagara Falls instead of railway repair equipment and grasses growing in ditches.

But when we root through the photos, we end up with lots of CN Towers and Niagara Falls. Which might make it seem like that’s all there is when that’s not the case at all.

In between high-profile visits to tall towers and dangerous waterfalls, we eat, walk, work, drive, ride, and play. We wander the streets and hang out beside bay windows. We talk with friends and smile at strangers.

We live in the everyday, and I’d argue all of these otherwise trivial moments are every bit as meaningful to us as the big, spectacular ones are.

So in my world, they merit some photographic attention, too. In my world, we absolutely wax poetic about yellow shopping carts.

Because despite our having been conditioned to overlook the ordinary, it’s precisely these ordinary things that trigger the memories that make life that much richer.

We’ve shopped here with our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. We’ve made memories here. This place holds a tiny but important spot in our family’s collective memory.

And all it takes is a silly picture to trigger these and other memories.

Hardly seems ordinary at all, then, does it?

#dryden #ontario #canada #throwback #grocery #store #retail #yellow #shopping #carts #buggies #building #streetphotography #photography #canon #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded