One of my online monikers used to be (obviously) heather feather and thusly, my little guy, my littlest feather. This sweet little tee came from Jean at the Artful Parent back when she stocked a little Etsy shop. It's funny to look back at old photos when he wore it last year and then now it fits just right. Next year it will be too small. Kids just won't stop growing up so fast on us, no matter how much we wish they'd slow down.
I always try to play along with themed posts at Shutter Sisters, Love Thursday, Theme Thursday and my favorite Best Shot Monday. Something about Chicago and travel and busyness on the way to an upcoming vacation, well it actually makes me want to put down my camera and just be.
Memory and photography and motherhood are a seamless jumble for me and that's a good thing. Knowing that sleep routines will be shot during and after vacation, I started foresaking any sort of productivity during naptime and have spent at least an hour snuggling with the littlest feather, who certainly thinks afternoon naps are a joke these days.
Giggling across the pillow, laying there snuggled in a too small for two twin bed, cowboy themed everything all around, well these are the snapshots that make up my days whether or not they wind up captured in a tangible way. Yet it is just me and who I am that I take the time nearly every day to capture some part of this growing up. Parenting three is wild and exhausting, but such a treat when they break off in twos and share the small moments with just each other in harmony.
The harmony part being the rare thing. But when it happens, well if you're me, you at least want concrete proof for all the other times that crayons are being thrown instead of shared, for when you have to give the umpteenth reminder that hands are not for hitting. But more than just snapping the photos, each day my kids get a chance to see me live my passion. My five year old has already had the chance to shoot with my D300, because why not?
My mother never shared explicitly with me her passions, yet I knew them. I knew sitting there on the floor with a pile of apples, a paper bag and a paring knife at not much older than my oldest that it was something. How strongly those somethings stay with you long after the relationship has fluttered away out of reach. I can't draw her back into my life in the ways I hoped she be here now, but damned if I can't bake the best anything you've ever tasted from scratch, recipe or no.
Sometimes photography is a good cover for the things you don't want to say. Being an eavesdropper to some amazing storytelling and honesty at Blogher and beyond, well, we all have stories to tell. Most days a photo is enough and that is what I share for me, for my audience, for my fellow snapshot photographers. Some days I need more words than images. But on the days I find both, well that is my well-worn tee shirt that fits just right. It may yet be too small next year, but that's just how it goes.
