Click

I am a photographer. I love pictures. I love to take pictures. I love the feeling of having a camera in my hand. If I were to walk into your home, you can be assured the very first thing I would do is to search out those pieces of you. To me it is a glimpse into the person, who they were and who they have become, what is important to them.

I see my life in pictures too. Like when I used to play in my turtle sandbox in the backyard of my childhood home all by myself. Click. Or when I first played Oregon Trail on a computer in a little room of the library at school. Click. The day I insisted I needed braces so at least one thing on me would be pretty. Click. The day I stood next to one of my best friends and graduated from Union County High School. Click. The day I decided I needed wide open spaces and moved to Seattle for grad school. Click. The second date with my husband, riding on the back of his crotch rocket and thinking of the bible verse from Joel, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten." Click.

There was another day that was a click moment too. Picking out the bedding that would be part of Lilla's nursery, 3 1/2 years ago. I remember it was the day of my shower and my mom wanted to get some things I still needed. We were walking around Target and I just loved the Amy Coe collection with pale pastel stripes on the dust ruffle. For the following 2 1/2 years I so enjoyed seeing those lovely stripes when I would go in to her room at night to rock, hold and nurse her. They were lovely. Finally she got to the point of being in her toddler bed and we took down the bedding, only to be put in a box for the next year.

When Anna was born she got a bed that doesn't use a dust ruffle, so when we had the recent MOPS yard sale, in went that dust ruffle. 50 cents was the going rate. The day went by and I didn't notice when it was purchased and gone for good. Or so I thought.

This Saturday I went to the local arts and crafts fair with my close friend, Shelley. A friend who sews, Emily, was displaying her beautiful creations. I was looking through her collection when I see a lovely dress she had made with pale pastel stripes on it. I commented on how lovely it was when she said, "Oh, that was a dust ruffle I bought at the yard sale." I couldn't believe it! The dust ruffle from Lilla's room...click...the snapshots came back.

Sadly, we are having major septic issues so I couldn't afford the dress, but Emily was so kind as to set it back for me for later. Then again, that, of course, may have been due to how tear stained it became after I cried over the snapshot in my head. It hurt me to walk away from the dress, but oh the tenderness I felt when I pictured the snapshot in my head.

Later, as I spoke with the local harvest council rep., my friend Shelley snuck back and got that dress for me. What joy and thankfulness I felt as I opened the package she handed me. Click, one more photo to hold in my heart.
And then, I must say, because Shelley has a little vicarious living to do through my little Anna since her youngest peanut is 5, she also had to get the little lovebug something too. Is this not adorable?



Thank you Shelley, for being part of this sweet snapshot!