divulgence // luke hemmings au

31

A month and a half later...

"Ready?" Luke said to his eldest daughter as she climbed into the passenger seat. "Ready as I'll ever be" she said, buckling her seatbelt and fixing her bag on her lap.

Luke took off, Elsie beside him trying to hide her nerves.

Ten minutes later they arrived at the studio Luke showing Elsie the way walking through a set of glass doors down a hallway to another room.

Luke entered throw the wooden door first greeted by two familiar faces, they rushed over when they saw him. "Luke! Oh my god! What a surprise! It's so so nice to see you!" The older woman hugged him completely surprised. "It's been a long time, Mabel! Mabel, I want you to formally meet my daughter, Elsie."

Luke presented Elsie to the two older people and all of them shook hands and introduced each other. "George, please show Elsie wear the clothes are and where the fitting room is!" Mabel commanded her husband, and George happily showed Elsie around.

Luke stayed behind, studying the lighting and backdrop waiting for Elsie to come back out.

Meanwhile Elsie was in the dressing room trying to figure out what the wear, there was four full racks out outfits in front of her and she didn't want to make the wrong decision.

"Thank you for letting my daughter have this experience. Back when I did this, it was the most liberating and rewarding experience. I didn't know how much that could impact me or other people. It helped me find some confidence that I never thought I could get back."

Mabel was touched by Luke's comment. "I'm glad we can impact you in that way. We started this campaign because our granddaughter Abigail has diabetes and she was embarrassed by carrying around her devices. When she first started going to school other kids would often look at her funny and that was isolating for her. People can sense when they're different from others or being singled out so we wanted to embrace these differences but these differences aren't a bad thing."

"Your granddaughter inspired all this?"

"Yes! I took up photography back in the eighties and I figured the best way to get Abigail to feel confidence is have her dress up in her favorite clothes and strike some poses as I snap pictures of her. She liked it because she felt like she could have fun. She laughed and smiled. She told me she felt normal for once, even though her insulin pump was on full display. She allowed me to hang up her photo in my office I worked in at the time and my co workers were like, you should go into photography full time and reach out to magazines with your granddaughters story. Long story short, here I am, fifteen years later."

Elsie came walking out mid conversation she was wearing a gold sparkly top with a deep v neck in the front, she also wore high waisted white pants, her hair was straightened, and she wore Pearl earrings.

Luke was blown away by his daughter's outfit. "Wow Elsie you look absolutely beautiful! Are you sure you're feeling comfortable in wearing that?"

"Yeah I think so...it's not every day I get to dress up like this and do a photo shoot like this." She explained walking in front of the back drop.

Elsie fixed her hair and was getting into the zone, Mabel adjusted the camera making sure everything was in order.

"Elsie do you know why your father set this up for you?"

Elsie smiled softly. "Yeah, my dad wanted me to gain some confidence and self esteem. He wants me to see my beauty and worth beyond a scar. I hope he's right."

"How did you feel when your father presented you with this idea? What were your initial thoughts?"

"I was shocked.. I already experienced a lot of issues since having surgery. I never experienced any type of bullying in school until this year. For the first time in my life I felt like I was shoved into a box because I was finally different from everyone else in school. It was the most strangest thing for me. I thought a lot people wouldn't care as much as they did, I was wrong."