Picture Perfect

I have not being taking pictures like I used to. It's funny how when you have a new baby or young child the camera is never far. The benefit of having many babies is that as your other children grow up, they continue to be captured in moments as well. And now I have no babies, and sadly no new pictures. I need to change that. The picture thing, not the new baby.

The Preschooler went to his first birthday party on his own last week. So fun. He couldn't stop declaring to his siblings that it was JUST him who was invited. When I brought him, his good little friend came right over and gave him a hug. I missed my camera immediately, and the birthday girl's mother scooted her dad off the couch to run and grab the camera. He mumbled that the moment had passed, while she insisted he be ready for the next moment. And then he said something interesting. He commented that he used to be so obsessed with capturing everything on either video or camera that he feels like he missed out on a lot of the moments he was "capturing" but not "experiencing." He said he used to think that he would really cherish those videos and pictures when he was old and sitting around with no kids at home, and now it has hit him that he'll have grandchildren then to enjoy anyways.

I'm not an advocate for not taking any pictures, but I can see his point; and I've noticed it myself. Some of our funnest family times are when the camera is sitting in its case on top of the fridge. Slowing down and experiencing things while they happen; not just making memories, but living in them is really what life is all about.