Maternity photos.
Personally, a <hilarious> touchy subject. For most of my teenage/adult life, I toted a story of only having one photo of my mom pregnant with me. Standing in our old house, in the office, permed hair and wicked cool specs, stirrup pants and all cradling a swollen belly with a beaming grin on her face…only to be debunked {again} by my sister as she is actually the one in mom’s belly in that particular photo. Seriously? Seriously. So, not only did I have a completely fabricated and inaccurate account of the day I was born, but I don’t even have a single photo of what my mom looked like when I was a wee-whisper of a person.
Some argue that…well…who cares?! It’s not like my world is shattered because I don’t have this tangible piece of evidence that I was born. I mean-I exist, don’t I? {Oooo, how existential of me!?} But it does matter. To me.
See, it’s interesting watching my friends and siblings become parents. It’s super cool to see things from the adult perspective; to see them fully enveloped in love, to see the stress of trying to balance family with work and fun and family fun, to see things progress. To know that I’ll remember the day I was told so-and-so is pregnant, to watch the belly grow, to see a teeny little baby emerge and be engulfed in a sea of well wishes and love and to wonder about their possibilities. The challenges they will overcome, the changes they will make.
When I hold a photo in my hands, when I relive a memory through a developed piece of paper, these are the thoughts that get pulled to the forefront of my mind.
And, in the end, all we have is memories and photos…is it not?
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I was so excited to hear Jessica and Jeremy were pregnant and, dare I say?, ecstatic when they contacted me to sign up for the Sweet Baby Program. To know they’re capturing these memories for their sweet babes makes my heart go all a flutter. 🙂 An afternoon of beautiful sunshine, two lighthearted people, red machines {yay!}, a nosy puppy and two wee-whipsers of persons…perfection.
