Dear Maddie and Jackson,
Your childhood memories line the walls of our home to the point where your grandmothers laugh at me. And I could easily be accused of an obsession with digital picture frames.
Maddie shares my obsession with the digital frames, watching the pictures scroll by for several minutes at a time. While
First day of school.
the photos don’t stand a chance against SpongeBob, she is so happy reliving past vacations, holidays and everyday photos we snapped around the house. “That’s me!” “Oh look, it’s Daddy!” As if she hasn’t seen them a thousand times before. Or that I would display photos of random strangers.
Easter Sunday
I have a deep appreciation for the value of photos. While that sounds crazy, they enable us to relive our fondest memories – our first family vacation with the hot tub so cool you were allowed to swim in it, Christmas mornings with your deepest wish fulfilled, birthday parties with a fire truck in our driveway or a magician in the living room, pumpkin carvings and lazy days at the beach. They remind me of the sweet smell of you as babies, your past obsessions with BeyBlades or the super, super green socks.
As someone who can too easily remember the negative in great detail but must work at remembering the positive moments, photos jog my memory. Photos help me mentally put the bumps in the road in their proper place. Help me dwell on the best of times in our family’s journey. Because there is nothing gained by reliving the negative. By reliving the highs, I get to enjoy the sweetness, the silliness and love again and again. And who wouldn’t want to do that endlessly?
Photos helped me survive during the darkest times of our journey. We still took lots of photos even in the chaos. And no matter what else had happened that day, when the camera came out everyone did the same thing, every time – we smiled. We looked happy.
Those were the days when you still took pictures on film and had them developed. So at some point in the future, I would
South Carolina Baseball Alumni Game
pick up a stack of photos. And there we were – smiling. Everyone looked so happy. And I would wonder why I was worried that you felt the stress and exhaustion your dad and I were. Wonder why I was worried you were having a terrible childhood. Just look at all the pictures of you smiling! As ridiculous as it sounds, photos kept me going.
Today, the photos serve a far less desperate but richer purpose. They let me be relive the best parts of our family’s journey. I am so grateful for the blessings in our lives. For the memories we create. For the privilege of being your mom. Photos let me remember the depth of our family’s love. The strength of the bonds between us. And the beautiful life we are creating together.
Keep smiling and I’ll keep snapping photos that someday you can show to your kids.
Love,
Mom
learnedonthejourney 