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. A legacy, of sorts.
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 and messy parts of our family life that would otherwise just stay in a folder on my laptop, never to see the light of day.
MARCH
There are far fewer photos than usual this month because for the first two weeks of March I didn’t pick up my camera at all. Not even once. Work has been full-on and with the girls being back at school properly as well, it really has been a case of keeping our heads down and getting on with things.
Doing what we have to do until we can do more of what we want to do.
23rd March marked the one year anniversary of the start of the pandemic and the first official lockdown of the UK. I’ve spent a fair amount of time this month reflecting back over the past year, thinking about what I’ve learnt throughout the experience. What a year it’s been! As I’m sure has been the case for everyone, there have been some incredibly difficult times and some absolutely wonderful times, some aspects that I never want to go through again and some that I whole-heartedly want to integrate into our family life.
I still find it fascinating that those two, totally opposite, kinds of moments can co-exist.
Right now it feels like we’re collectively standing on an edge. Poised. One half desperately hoping that the ‘roadmap out of lockdown’ is starting to work and that the world will begin to open up, just as the new leaves on the trees are allowing themselves to tentatively unfurl and the blossom is bravely showing up.
Whilst at the same time, the other half wanting to stay safe and bide our time, like the bulbs still buried beneath the dirt patiently waiting for their turn to grow and bloom, worrying that the plan won’t be successful, concerned that we’re heading towards another wave of the virus and yet more restrictions and/or a fourth lockdown.
More conflicting thoughts and feelings co-existing. Blue skies and cloudy days. It seems to be a bit of a pattern at the moment.
The concept of yin and yang keeps on showing up. The idea of dualism, which describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected and even interdependent on each other. Shadow and light. Interestingly, this is something I’ve actively been seeking out and exploring in my recent photography work. Maybe there is something in it after all.
Philosophical thoughts aside, this was our March, a quiet month of small moments that still mattered, of everyday stories that still deserve to be told. The third chapter of another unusual year that will become woven into the fabric of our family history, as much a part of our narrative as anything else. These images documenting our days are so precious to me and somehow say more than words ever could.
This is us.
