I find joy in a 4 x 6… a set of them actually.
A few weeks ago I captured A Week in My Life through pictures. What may be boring, mundane shots to others shout nothing but joy to me.
Because in between the vacations and the milestones and all those other BIG things hide thousands of seemingly insignificant moments. Moments that make up my life as a mother. My life as a wife. My life as Melissa.
These moments are the ones we forget to capture. The ones we don’t think to chronicle because they aren’t deemed momentous enough. Or happy enough. But the ins and outs of our every day lives are worth capturing just as much as that trip to Disney World.
And maybe even a bit more.
I think back to the pictures that MY parents took. My mom took lots of pictures so I have more than most. But dang, what I wouldn’t give to see a picture of my sisters and I greeting Dad at the door, excited by the silly rubber band he’d wear on his wrist to give one of us.
Or a picture of my mother making black beans and rice in the kitchen.
Or a picture of our morning routine as we get ready for school.
It’s the every day, the oh-so-very ordinary pictures that I crave from my childhood. I have the memories in my head and in my heart, but a picture… that can show someone a little sliver of your life. (If only I could print pictures from my mind. Get on that, okay Epson?)
As for MY life in 2010, here’s a glimpse of what I captured in a series of 4 x 6s:
Folding laundry. Boooor-ing. But wait…I step back and look. I look at the style of clothes I was folding, the design of our furniture, the type of toys we had. What nostalgia will this picture conjure up in 15 years? In 25?
A little moment out of our morning routine. The baby’s got a full tummy from our morning nursing session and Big Roo comes downstairs to love on his little bro. Maybe I’ll show them this picture in a few years when they’re fighting over Legos.
While pictures captivate me, trains captivate him.
Story time with Daddy. I’m not sure if I can even remember my Dad reading us books (though he’d assure me that he did).
Part of our evening routine – a walk around the block. It’s the time where we count bunnies, point out flowers and recite numbers off mailboxes.
I find so much joy in these pictures because each one offers hundreds of clues into my life AT THIS VERY MOMENT.
In 15, 25, even 35 years from now, they’ll remind me of more about my life in 2010 than a perfectly posed shot with matching clothes, slightly tilted heads and saccharine smiles.
Joy? It’s life chronicled piece by piece through a 4 x 6…
… to show my children when they are old enough to appreciate it.
… to show my grandchildren so they can giggle at the fact that their dads were kids once, too.
… to show anyone who’ll reminisce with an old woman about her life back in 2010.
My guess is that they’ll all see the joy in those 4 x 6s too.
This post is part of SOYJOY‘s What brings you joy contest. Learn more here.