Steve and Tamara Lackey are busy. They modestly claim that everyone is – that they’re not unique. But not everyone has three young children and two businesses – his being Endurance Magazine and hers being Tamara Lackey Photography.
So it’s of utmost importance that they make their moments at home count. “The time you have with your family – you want it to be quality time,” says Steve, 40.
The family includes Sophie, 8, Caleb, 6, and Ana Elisa, 5. The Lackeys moved to Meadowmont in 2003 from San Francisco and were able to buy “three times the house for one-third the cost.” They were pursuing an altogether different atmosphere (“Earthquakes are less exciting after a newborn,” says Tamara, speaking about Sophie.) but also different professional paths. They both started their businesses as soon as they arrived, making the leap from careers as Silicon Valley consultants. Tamara had always loved taking pictures – she is self-taught. Today, she’s best known for her children’s photography (She wrote a book, The Art of Children’s Portrait Photography.), and her studio now employs seven photographers. Steve had always been athletic but decided to launch Endurance, a magazine about individual sports and the lifestyles that surround them, when he competed in an Iron Man shortly after moving to North Carolina. He loved the energy and the uplifting spirit of that group of athletes.
Family planner
When they moved in, Meadowmont was in its infancy, and the Lackeys say relationships were quick to be made, with block parties happening all the time. As it has expanded, some of that has been lost. “I used to feel like I knew everybody in Meadowmont,” says Tamara. “Not anymore.”
Still, about a dozen children live within a quarter block, and the Lackeys’ home, which is located on a cul-de-sac and features an ample side yard and screened-in porch, has become a natural gathering spot. “We don’t overdo it with kids’ activities because they want that time to play [in the neighborhood],” says Tamara, 39.
The family expanded in 2004 at the suggestion of Sophie. Specifically, she asked for a “brown baby brother named Sky.” The couple adopted Caleb from Ethiopia when he was 9 months old after a five-month process. Steve is adopted, and both Steve and Tamara had been to Africa before and were drawn to the culture and the overwhelming needs of orphans there.
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