Capture the Moment

Jason Meets His Grandmother

Jason, this is your mother, doing what I do best.....bringing you a main dish of guilt with a side dish of reality.  It's been awhile since we've seen pictures of our granddaughter.  I understand that you've misplaced your camera.  Well, I've found a spare one here at the house and I'm sending it to you.

Jason Relaxing With His Daddy

I don't think I have to remind you how fast children change.  I'm sure you've noticed this in just the short time since Mika was born.  But not all of us can be there enjoying all those precious moments with her.  We have to rely on short phone calls and pictures......preferably LOTS of pictures to capture those memories.

What's For Dinner, Mom?

Now I know you have photographer DNA in your blood.  Believe me, I sat through more "photo ops" than you can imagine when I was growing up.  Your grandma was ALWAYS posing us for pictures.  Back then, it was pretty tedious, what with her stopping and starting to take light levels, change film, wind cameras, set up tripods, and drag over lights to try to get the best pictures.

Your Mom, on her 5th Birthday

 Do you know how glad I am now that she took the time to do that?  If she hadn't, I wouldn't have all these marvelous old pictures of Grandma and Grandpa, of my grandma and grandpa, and of Uncle John and me growing up.

I don't care if he DOES bring presents.  Get me out of here!

 Nowadays, though, we have digital cameras that can point and shoot.  Almost anyone can get great shots in just a few seconds.  My goodness, you don't even have to edit them.  If you want, you can just send them electronically to me and I'll use my photo editing software to pretty them up and share them with the rest of the relatives.

Today, toothbrushing!  Tomorrow, potty training!

There are going to be so many milestones in Mika's life to document.  Soon you'll have another baby and there will be even more cute things to photograph.  Wait until the two of them start to interact together, like you and your sister did growing up.  Oh, my....I have such wonderful photographs of the two of you and whenever I look at them, I'm right back in that time, reliving those moments.

Mommy Knit This Sweater for Me

There might even be moments that you don't WANT to relive....like the time you proudly wore that first sweater I ever knit for you.  Look on the bright side (ok, maybe "bright" was a poor choice of words), you haven't had to wear one of those sweaters since then but I'll bet just looking at this photo brought back some quick memories of your time in Morocco.

I'm Ready for School, Mom!

If you don't make a determined effort to capture your children's days on film now, you will look back years from now and realize with regret that you will never be able to go back and recapture those images.  They will never be little again.  Mika will never be small enough to fall asleep on your chest again.  But you have a picture of that to help you remember how wonderful it felt when she did just that as a little baby.  We have a copy of that picture, too, so we can also look at it and marvel at how sweet she was as a little newborn, even though she was in British Columbia and we were on the East Coast and didn't get to see it in person.

Hurry up, Mom.  I have a prom to go to.

So listen to your mother.  Take the camera, don't lose it, and take plenty of pictures.  Post those pictures somewhere where the rest of us relatives who live scattered around the U.S. can see them.  Because before you know it, Mika will be asking you for the car keys.  From there, it's only a matter of days before the doorbell will ring and her date for the prom will be standing on the doorstep.  You'll turn around as she comes down the stairs looking like a princess and one of the first things you'll want to do is take a picture.  Trust me.  I'm your mother.  I know!