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 and life that it’s really important to me that I capture the ordinary, everyday times that we spend together as well.
The pieces 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 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.
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER
Apparently I now write these ‘Moments In Between’ posts on a bi-monthly basis rather than every month. I’m just not taking enough photographs and I’m not finding the words to share – I’m letting other things get in the way. I beat myself up about it for quite a while. Tried to force it. Now I seem to have reached the point of accepting it and giving myself grace and trusting that it’s just the season of my life that I currently happen to be in. That it’s ok for other things to need to take priority right now.
There’s a small feeling of peace at not having to battle with myself every month to put something out there and knowing that I can pick it back up again whenever I choose. After all, there are no rules to this.
The girls have already been back at school for seven weeks and we’ve had the first half term break of the new academic year. Thankfully the transition has been a relatively smooth one and everyone has settled in well. We quickly found our rhythm with school runs and packed lunches and after-school clubs.
It just doesn’t leave much room to manoeuvre with regards to creativity and space to play. I’ve been trying to pay attention, trying to notice the moments I want to remember. It’s hard when the girls are behind closed doors in their bedrooms the vast majority of the time. But my willingness to keep trying is definitely still there and that has to count for something.
October was a tough month. I lost a friend to cancer and the natural ripple effect of that has led to me re-examining my priorities: what really matters to me; how I’m living my life; what I want to do with my time; and how I am still almost obsessively driven to document it all. Piece by piece, a patchwork quilt of memories emerging, sewing all of the photographs together into a story. Into our story.
This was us in September and October…
