I take hundreds of photos every month, and most of them don’t get shared with anyone, let alone online. And yet the moments in time that those photos capture are just as important a part of our story as the other images that I do choose to share.
I originally created this blog as a way of documenting our lives, a way of watching the girls grow into who they’re going to be and a way of remembering who they once were. It’s something I want them to be able to look back on as they get older, because memories fade but (digital) photographs don’t.
It’s easy (and tempting) to only focus on sharing the fun bits, the memorable parts, the highlights and the celebrations. But I’m learning more and more as I continue through this crazy journey of motherhood that it’s really important to me that I capture the ordinary, everyday times that we spend together as well.
The bits of the jigsaw that fill in the gaps to complete the picture. The tantalising glimpses into who our girls are becoming. The chaos, the calm and all the moments in between.
This monthly feature – The Moments In Between – is a space for me to share all of those magical bits that would otherwise just stay in a folder on my laptop, never to see the light of day.
JUNE
We have now clocked up a total of fourteen weeks of lockdown and whilst the restrictions are slowly beginning to ease (rightly or wrongly depending on who you speak to), life is still far from ‘normal’. Shops are back up and running but the girls still can’t go to school. Pubs and restaurants re-open next week which means the husband has been taken off of furlough and is working ridiculous numbers of hours, but we can’t yet have Sophie to visit for the weekend or our parents round to our house for a cup of tea and a hug. It seems crazy when I write it out like that but it’s our current reality.
The weather this month has been as mercurial as everyone’s emotions and as contradictory as the government’s decisions, and I genuinely think it’s added to the general sense of ‘unsettled-ness’ and uncertainty that we’re all feeling on a daily basis. I hope the consistent sunshine returns soon and brings with it everyone’s better moods. Resilience is being tested all round which I guess is understandable given the amount of changes we’ve all had to adapt to in recent months.
We’ve carried on throughout it all though, diligently homeschooling and washing our hands and keeping a 2m distance from others. I’ve been parenting and teaching and working and walking and reading, all whilst doing my best to capture as much of our daily life as I can with my camera. Some days are more successful than others. The girls keep saying to me that those who are babies and toddlers right now will be learning about this time period in their history lessons at school a decade down the line and that’s precisely why I believe so strongly that it’s important to document what life is like at the moment.
We’re counting down the days to the summer holidays, hoping for a bit more freedom and feeling equally as nervous about what consequences that freedom might bring – not just for us but for the wider community and society as a whole. These feelings of hopefulness and nervousness aren’t the only examples of co-existing emotions present in our home. We also have: joy and despair; contentment and frustration; relaxation and restlessness; happiness and sadness; chaos and calm. Sometimes all within the space of ten minutes.
These photos probably don’t capture the whole range, despite my best efforts. But they’re something, a tangible record of this era in our collective lives. Our moments in between being captured as they unfold.
They might look like ordinary snapshots but there is a particular kind of magic in the mess and the mundane. These photographs are significant and meaningful and they matter more than we probably realise right now.
Every single photo has a multitude of layers beyond what you see on the surface.
Every single one speaks to me in so many ways.
Every single one is a piece of our jigsaw.
This is us.
