Thank the Photographers

Kudos!

Early this week my friend Donna put a photograph on Facebook of her daughter’s “last first day of school” which was so nice it made me smile. I liked it so much I shamelessly set out to copy her idea. l texted my daughter and asked for a “selfie” of her “last first day at school” so I could post it too. I didn’t take either photograph and I wasn’t at either event, but because of my feelings for the subjects, both pictures will and have taken nice little spots in my heart.

First Day of School

They made me remember another photograph, replicated here, taken the first day of kindergarten.

In this case, I was there along with a bunch of other moms, meeting up against the bricks. I am lucky enough to still know most of those moms. I am also lucky at least two of them took this picture because I certainly didn’t have my camera. We had walked to school, pretty carefree.

So much talk about people living behind their phones, not living in the moment, but living with the lens between them and life. Well, I always live in the moment. My phone is likely in my pocket or on the banister at home. I hardly ever remembered to take a camera on adventures.

So here is a big shout out to the photographers in my life. Thanks to mom for some photos of the early years of my life; to my dad who took thousands of pictures of my childhood; to my sister who had her camera at the ready to share her children’s early years with me and to my sister-in-law for the same. Without that constant sharing I would have missed much of the growing moments, purely due to geography.

Special thanks to Jocie, Donna, and Jan who inadvertantly photographed many milestones in my daughter’s life since they were there with their children at the same time. I don’t know for certain who took this specific photograph, but I do know that I am indebted to many over the years, specifically, Joanne and Betsy in my family.

Some of those pictures people have posted on facebook will have the power this one does.

Thank the photographers in your life. What a memory service they provide!!

An aside: I wonder what the heck was in those backpacks.