Grains of Sand…

Anyone else have too many pictures? Whether they are all sitting on your computer or piled up in grocery bags, I know most people have hundreds of pictures to manage. I have decided to take on the task of retaking control of our digital documentation. Wow. Even after scrapbooking 50 pages of Madi’s first year, I still have a stack of loose pictures about 10 inches tall from that first 12 months. The pictures keep coming too. I just downloaded over 400 pictures that we took during the month of May…yes, just one month. It is an overwhelming task, trying to put them in some semblance of order.

It makes me think about how hard I try to capture moments, from video clips to digital pictures to writing down something about the kids every day. I desperately want to remember both the important things and the every day moments. I want to remember how we walked down the sidewalk today with both kids carrying their “adventure boxes” (old wipes containers) and stuffed them full with twigs, weeds, and leaves. I want to remember how it felt to have Parker snuggled up under my chin while I rocked him back to sleep, with his fingers in my hair and his breath blowing on my neck. I want to remember the sweetness of Madi saying, “What are you and me going to do together, Mommy?” and after we do something rather unremarkable such as an activity book or mixing up muffin batter, her looking at me and saying, “You are my favorite Mommy”. I want to remember clinking plastic glasses at the breakfast table and saying “cheers!” over and over again. I want to remember it all.

In the sandbox today, Parker was scooping up handfuls of sand to put them into his bucket, with most of the sand slipping through his fingers and some going into the bucket. That’s how I feel…so many moments, and I’m only able to scoop up a scant few.

Such precious moments.