This is the picture that is on my bulletin board, right beside my computer. It makes me so happy. It was taken when Max was 18 months old (the day before I cut his gorgeous wispy, curly hair, so people would stop asking how old my little girl was!). It was Canada Day, and Max and I and his Auntie played on the beach all morning, making castles. There was nothing special about the day, but it was perfect (you know those days?).
I like seeing this image every day. I know it so well that I can now go to it in my mind (for example, as I did tonight, while putting Sam to sleep, as he was kicking the wall and yelling repeatedly at the top of his lungs, "I not go to sleep!!! I not go to sleep!!!) and it helps me to remember the joyful parts of parenting. The up tumbling, turning, leaping out YES moments. They certainly don't come every day. But they come...oh yes, they come. And when they do, and I am lucky enough to capture them with my camera, I want to remember them. I want to squeeze them tight and put them in the pocket of my mind for safekeeping. Or on my bulletin board. Where I can see them every day.
