Picture Perfect Memory

 

I recently read that the average human only remembers a very small percentage of their lives and that many of those memories are actually images or pieces of photographs from their childhood. I have a few specific memories of my childhood that I am sure are based on photographs and embellished with my vivid imagination and pure romantic view of life (one particular moment where I was playing in a child's pool with my nana, who died just six months after the photo was taken. I was not quite two at that time and too young to actually remember that event.)

As I photograph my boys and their childhoods, I do think about documenting events, every day and extraordinary, in a way that will help them remember, not just people, places and things, but the emotions associated with those times. Because I am usually the one photographing, I am rarely in the photos, and I hope that my boys will one day want to see images of me with them...

...that is why this photograph, taken by my friend Molly, is so dear to me, and will one day be dear to them.

I love this photograph because:

:: it honestly depicts a summer afternoon without make up, fancy clothes or posed bodies::

::Arlo has his shoes on the wrong feet and that is an everyday occurrence::

::Otis is curling his tongue like does when he is saying his "s" sound::

::Sam is looking very calm and grown up and relaxed and freckled and happy::

::we are relaxing in the hammock which is common in the late summer afternoons while we wait for Matt to come home from work::

::there is nature surrounding us which is how we live our lives here on our little farm::

::the chicken tractor is in the background (though I don't think most people would recognize that, we do, and we love it) which is also how we live our lives here on our little farm::

::Arlo's shins are bruised, also very common, no matter the season::

::Otis is sitting on my lap and as the baby of the family he is frequently found sitting on my "wap"::

::you can see just the corner of the book, "To Kill A Mockingbird", which Molly was reading to us as we sat in the hammock::

::I am in a kid sandwich and so happy there::

::the sun is shining and you can almost feel the summer heat as we snuggle in the shade of our grove of cedar trees::

To me this is the epitome of a picture perfect memory. Sam is very likely to remember this day, Arlo might remember, and Otis likely will not, but they will have this image to help and so will I as the years pass and my boys grow too big to sit on my lap and sandwich me in a hammock on a hot summer day.