One Word At A Time: Remember
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 9:00AM MAD21 By MAD21
For our bi-weekly post on One Word At A Time, the group decided on: Remember. I know, for me, this is actually something that's very important. I admit, sometimes to the point of obsession. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I am actually afraid of forgetting.
This is something that became very apparent to me when I became a mommy. I so thoroughly enjoyed being a mom with young little babies. Yes, there were some very hard times and lots of crying on my own part. But really, I loved celebrating all the firsts, no matter how small and unimportant the firsts were to others.
I was not one of those moms who instantly felt that deep love connection to my babies when they were born. I naturally loved them as any parent would love their babies, but that deep in-love feeling didn't really come until they started responding to me. Like the first time they truly look AT you, not just in your direction. Or the first time that they squeak with joy because you've come into their line of sight; the squeak that no one else gets; the one that's just for Mommy.
One of the ways that helps me to remember the important things about by girls and the things my family does together is I take lots of pictures. I have to say I am SO glad for digital cameras coming along when they did. It has made things SO much easier for me to document all my photos. Much better than just tossing them into a box hoping to remember why I took most of them. One of these days I'll have time to actually put them in albums, but for now, I have files labeled so I can keep track of what everything is so I can come back to it when I have time.
One of the things I knew I would want to remember about my babies was how small everything was. Tiny little fingers, tiny little nose and mouth, and tiny little ears. I can just look at these photos and remember holding my babies and how wonderful they smelled after a bath. I try to be sure to have a picture of all the important things, so we can remember.
But it gets me thinking. Photographs are important, but like everything else, they are limited. Realistically, you can't capture EVERYTHING in a photograph. Some pictures are better than others at capturing the real moods and feel of what was going on in life. But they can also lie. One of my most favorite pictures of my oldest daughter from a few years ago shows her with her genuine, amazing, wonderful smile. I took it while her Daddy was tickling her. It was the kind of smile that was all over her face. The kind of picture you can't help but smile and laugh at when you see it. But what people who look at the photograph don't know, is that it was taken at a very challenging time in her life. For weeks, she had really been struggling a lot with behavior and attitude like most 3-year-olds. It seemed she was getting herself into trouble all the time. It was difficult for all of us.
I took that photograph and put a nice frame around it, and under it I wrote the words, "Mommy loves you." When I gave it to her, I told her there were two reasons I wanted her to have it and look at it every day. I told her it seemed she'd lost her smile. The picture was to help her remember who she was, and that Mommy loved her. I will say, I don't know if it's because of the picture or not, but my baby shortly returned to her wonderful little self not too long after that. It's still hanging on her wall even now.
I realized after talking with my daughter about the picture that day how similar that moment was to a scene in the Lion King (I know, it sounds hokey). I got to thinking about how often we all need those moments to remember who we are. In the movie, Simba had run away in fear, embarrassment, and pure grief. He had a good family who tried to do their best to teach him right from wrong. But he trusted the wrong lion and made some bad choices, which as you know, led to the death of his father and the near annihilation of his pride. After a short time of living his life with "no worries," or so he thought, Simba knew he was living a lie. In a moment of despair he saw a vision of his father and hears the words, "Remember who you are!" He sees his father's likeness in the water which transforms into him seeing himself. He remembers.
When you think about it, pictures are like that reflection that Simba saw. They can only capture what they see. There wasn't anything else happening. It was just Simba seeing himself. But these reflections can also help us to remember what is unseen. Just like Simba seeing his reflection reminded him of who he was and what he needed to do, I can look at the pictures I have of my children of when they were really young and remember all the smells, feelings and emotions that were in that moment.
I think remembering is important to God. For one thing, he gave us the tradition of communion to remember Christ and his sacrifice for us. But remembering is also important because it helps us learn. Things that have happened in the past make us who we are today. God uses those experiences to help us help others. He uses the past to help us know how to live (if we choose to listen).
Let us all be a reflection of Christ onto others. So that they can remember what's important. So they can remember who they are.
This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Peter's blog: Rediscovering the Church.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Remember.
Reader Comments (11)
I love my kids for all the same reasons. I just want to say thank you for this. Also I know what you mean by pictures not capturing the story. We have an image of my youngest daughter, when she was about 2, where she is just glaring at the camera. It is funny because during this time she had a death stare like you wouldn't believe. The funny part is in this picture I was snapping a quick shot of her laughing and smiling but the instant the shutter clicked she switched to death stare mode and then back to laughing and smiling. Life can be like that sometimes too. The pictures we snap look bad for that instant when everything around us is actually happy and joyful. Gotta remember the real story.
True. It is important to remember who we are. I have lots of pictures that remind me of my dad's sense of humor. His life was not an easy one, but he sure knew how to laugh and get others to, also.
I love pictures, too. Especially the non-posed ones. I love the picture of my daughter that I use on my avatar, she hates it. She'd prefer to see posed smiling pictures of herself. I like to remember that life is not to be taken too seriously. I hope that as she gets older, she'll love the picture, too.
I enjoyed this so much! You are so right. Pictures (especially the fancy studio ones) don't reveal much about who you are or what was going on. They're unnatural, but we have to remember who we are and look at the real pictures that hold real memories... Great stuff- thanks.
"Let us all be a reflection of Christ onto others. So that they can remember what's important. So they can remember who they are."
That's beautiful! I love this quote. I may steal it. I may send royalties if I do ;-)
Aww, you managed to bring The Lion King into the blog carnival! Yay you!
Great post. My memory is terrible and I'm sure one day I'll regret not being able to remember all of the 'firsts'!
Ginny, this is wonderful! I have to agree with Marni...
"Let us all be a reflection of Christ onto others. So that they can remember what's important. So they can remember who they are."
I love the way you said this!
I have many pics that when people complement, I have to chuckle... if they only knew the screaming and frustration the second before the 'click' of the camera took place. It captures just that exact moment, but the 'memory' is so much bigger than what they see.
Thanks for the reminder not to 'forget'...
I enjoy your post, I agree with you about pictures, when I was small no one bothered to keep pictures of my brothers and sisters, and that made me sad. So yes pictures do capture memories. God bless you and your babies.
Hooray for Simba! And where would we be without pictures? There are so many silly faces and expressions in my kids' old pictures that just tear at my heart. My favorite thing is when I see an expression on their faces as adults that mirror that child-like delight. What gems (and where did they go)? I loved this post, Ginny!
This was a beautiful post. My favorite among many here. ;)
I was touched imagining God would so something like that for me. Put a picture of me that He took while I didn't know, and frame it.. and write, "I love you, Bonnie".
I prayed after reading this post and asked God if He could do that for me. Thanks, Ginny.
that's lovely. thanks for challenging me to remember for the right reasons!