granted wish

On Tuesday night (production) I got to go photograph a Make-A-Wish child named Gabe as he was told that the wish he has been waiting almost two and a half years for will be granted in the next few weeks. I have to say, it was really rough. I was pretty disappointed in myself. I set up with a long lens so as not to frighten him or completely overwhelm him when he came in. I had no idea what condition he would be in or anything. Turns out he has a lot of energy and boy can he run. There were a select few interaction shots in the very beginning that I pretty much completely missed. There was a large conference table and a big group of people between him and me when the hugging was happening. I would have killed for two bodies in that situation. After he ate copious amounts of candy he started tearing around the room/office at top speed, toting a toy guitar since the celeb he is meeting is a rocker in his favorite movie, School of Rock.
Thing was, I'm not sure he was fully aware of what was happening and he was most of the time in his own little world.
Once again, a great learning experience and also simply a really wonderful thing to be able to witness.
Congrats Gabe!