The Power of Pictures
Little Girl is Person of the Week at Preschool. This means three things: (1) We are hosting the adorable (& bedraggled) Kenny the Koala and taking him on mucho adventures; (2) We will all go into Little Girl's classroom on Thursday to celebrate; and (3) I stayed up waaaay past my bedtime going through old photos to find good ones of my littlest babe to send in to her teacher.
When searching through old pictures, I stumbled upon the above photo. It was taken on Easter weekend in 2012 when Little Girl was just about one. We were lying in the grass at my family's home in the Berkshires where I went every weekend as I kid. I look at this picture and I see joy, but I also remember being kind of sad, missing Dad who loved that place in the country so very much. And the beer bottle? It is an O'Douls. This was at the very beginning of my Year Without Wine.
I also found this picture from last summer in Cape Cod. It's yet another capture from my photographically-talented man. I remember that morning so well. It was super early and we took the girls into Chatham to pick up pastries and then we wandered on the misty beach. The girls ran and frolicked. A huge pack of people did yoga in the fog. I clearly spent a bit of time on my phone. Probably filtering a photo to share with the ether.
I'm realizing more and more how powerful photos can be. How they can document our lives, moments we want to remember. I am so grateful to have so many images of life over the past eight years. Before kids, I didn't take too many photos. But now that I'm a mom, I'm kind of obsessed, in a wonderful way maybe, with capturing as much of this exhausting and exquisite life as I can.
Also worth mentioning? Both of these photos were taken in moments when I was immersed in something, in moments when I wasn't aware of the camera. A far cry from the #selfie. Maybe that's why I like them so much? Because they capture bits of realness that elude in moments of consciousness? Because, at bottom, we all want to be witnessed, seen?
Do you take a lot of photos? Do you think they can be powerful tools to record and remember our lives?