Friday, August 3, 2012

Today's Project

It is a testament to how chaotic my last 12 years have been that I have no photos, anywhere.  No albums and even very few printed copies....even my Pre-Digital photos are still hidden away inside of their little film canisters.  Somewhere.  In the hustle and bustle of 7 kids in 12 years of marriage and multiple houses....well, photographs have certainly taken a back seat to daily life.  It all came to a head recently when Reuben, at the tender age of six, lovingly hugged my expired passport to his chest and said, "Mom, when you die, this is the picture I am going to look at to remember you."  I laughed.  That picture was taken when I was seventeen and blonde....I am 60 pounds heavier now, 5 months pregnant with my seventh child; my hair has darkened over the years to a deep brown and I wear glasses instead of contacts.  In short, that picture looks absolutely nothing like me. 

But when I asked him why in the WORLD he would choose that picture as a remembrance of me, he stared at me aghast and said, "well, what else would I look at, there are no other pictures of you!"  Convicted.

So today, as the little ones nap and the big ones snuggle in front of a movie (truly one of the only ways to ensure a quiet house for naptime in our tiny, tiny house), I will be sorting through piles and piles of digital photos and picking out my favorites to send to the printer.  All of my boys adore looking at old pictures, and I'd love to make each of them their own album of their "story" to gift them with at Christmas.  But Christmas is only (!) 4 1/2 short months away, and in that time, we have holidays, the start of school, a new baby, birthdays, and plenty of messy daily life to get in the way of projects I hope to give in December.  Today seems like as good a day to start as any.