Capture The Moment

I read an article about how moms tend to live behind the camera, taking picture after picture of their family. This particular article encouraged moms (and parents in general, really) to put down the camera and live in the moment.

We traveled 4 hours to get to see my husband’s sick father and ailing grandmother 2 days before Christmas. We stayed only a day but shared a couple meals with his dad, talked, laughed, and watched Christmas movies together. He got to see our 3 daughters again. He met our then, 8 month old son, Elijah, for what ended up being the first and last time. 

At one point Elijah sat with my husband but kept staring at his grandpa sitting next to him, so grandpa held out his hands. Elijah grinned and reached for him like he knew exactly who he was. He stroked his grandpa’s cheek and tickled his mustache, making Grandpa laugh which made Elijah laugh.

It would have made an adorable video, but we were living in the moment. Besides, his dad seemed so strong- if you didn’t know he was sick you wouldn’t have been able to tell.

4 days later I got a call from my husband’s mother who told me through her sobs that his dad had been found dead early that morning. 

We missed the opportunity to take as many pictures as we wanted of this special time of grandfather and grandson meeting. The memories are in our hearts, but as our children grow up and ask about their grandpa and want to see pictures of him, we can’t. The ball was dropped. 

Take the time to take some pictures. If you’re self conscious or just picky about how you look in a picture please stop. When you’re gone no one is going to care if your hair was just right. Or whether your makeup was perfect. Those left behind just want to see you. 

Take the picture. Take all the pictures.