Image by Karen Main
We sat there, two Mums reminiscing, enjoying the sunshine while watching our young boys play hockey.
How fast they grow, how much they change.
The story began with a photo and a tender moment, and how that photo had altered her memory.
A photo revealing its secrets.
A photo now viewed with different eyes.
My friend had been looking through albums of her children, from 10 or more years ago. There was a photo of her eldest son, peering out from their front window. Beanie on, standing on a chair, watching as his Mum came home with his new baby sister.
“I thought he was so much bigger then”, she said. “I look now and he was still just a baby.”
Back then she stood, new babe in arms, and witnessed her first born grow before her eyes.
She saw every ounce of independence he had developed in his 2 years.
She saw him as a “big boy, an older brother.
She saw what she needed to see.
She saw that he would be okay while she nurtured her new infant around the clock, just as she had nurtured him.
Today’s eyes are not the same eyes viewing this picture 10 years ago.
Todays eyes see a little boy, in some ways still a baby.
Today’s eyes are not wondering how to cope with 2 very young children.
Todays eyes are not weary from being up night after night.
Todays’ eyes belong to a parent with ten years of joy, laughter, discipline and tears behind her.
Todays eyes view this photo with a pleasant wistfulness.
Todays eyes long to see how small and vulnerable her first born son was.
Todays eyes want to remember him as her baby.
What we see in our photos will changes as we evolve.
We look though a lense of our own experiences.
We look with a fondness for times gone by.
Our photos hold treasured memories and continue to tell us new stories.
They promise to hold our secrets until our readiness to see them.
Do your photos surprise you?
Do they ever change your memories?
In some cases my memory of an event, especially when I was a child, really comes from a photo rather than a true memory of the event. Does this ever happen to you? I love family photos and have dozens and dozens of albums and framed pictures everywhere!
Good question Mo, I often visualise a childhood memory as the photo and then Mum fills in the blanks for me. Photos are something we all love and for many different reasons. The more I explore their hidden gems the more I love them.