Sara posted this brilliance over at her blog and I couldn't resist stealing it from her:
"Many scrapbookers knew Aleida Franklin. She was a wonderful wife and mother and a brilliant artist. I didn't know Aleida personally, but she taught me something I will never forget. She emailed me last year to tell me she loved my blog and to ask if I like my short hair-cut. This lead to a series of emails which eventually led me to remark that I really loved how often she posted pictures of herself with her children on her blog. And she replied to me, "Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn't wearing make-up? Or wasn't dressed in a glamorous outfit?" Of course my answer was no.
"Many scrapbookers knew Aleida Franklin. She was a wonderful wife and mother and a brilliant artist. I didn't know Aleida personally, but she taught me something I will never forget. She emailed me last year to tell me she loved my blog and to ask if I like my short hair-cut. This lead to a series of emails which eventually led me to remark that I really loved how often she posted pictures of herself with her children on her blog. And she replied to me, "Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn't wearing make-up? Or wasn't dressed in a glamorous outfit?" Of course my answer was no.
She then responded with saying that she made it a goal to take a picture of herself with her children at least once every month. And that to use excuses about how we look, as women, is ridiculous, since our children will never care what we looked like, but only that we had physical evidence of the bond between mother and child.
Aleida tragically and unexpectedly passed away last September, leaving 2 small children and a grieving husband. After she passed I thought of how those children must feel to have those precious photographs. I have made it my personal goal to follow her wise suggestion and I now take photos of myself with my children....double chins, make-up free, bed-head and all."
I am one of those moms. Guilty as charged. I hate having my picture taken because no matter how awful I think I look I somehow manage to look worse in photographs. Ugh.
But this woman is right. I have never looked at a picture of my mom and me and criticized her appearance. Never. I just look at the memory and think about how great my mom was/is.
So here I am trying to be better:
It may not be a professional shot and we may not look perfect (although we are all ready for church, so we look pretty darn nice, if I do say so myself!) but none of that matters. All that matters is that, hopefully, one day my children will look back at these photos of us together and know how much their mother loved/loves them.
Feel free to join in and pass the idea along!!
22 comments:
I make sure to take family pics at events, but not on regular basis. This is a good post, makes me look at myself and see a change I need to make as well :)
Thanks!
~C
I am totally the same way. Thanks for posting this...I am going to change my ways. And, by the way, you look fabulous in the pic!
Cute! I too avoid taking pics of myself. But I think I'll start doing it more now. Thanks for the sharing the good idea.
Go you!!! I love pictures with my girls. I always look at them more than myself:)
What a good idea, I'm totally joining in! I need to remember that although I critique myself, my children don't...
I think your picture with you and your kids is beautiful!
You guys look so cute. I love Payson's smile. Great idea by the way.
You look so beautiful! And your kiddos are adorable!!
smart woman to do it on a sunday! way to go, actually having it "together" enough to get a picture in...we're just lucky to get out the door without too many tears (mine, of course). You look fantastic.
that is so true! thanks for posting that
What a great idea! I will definately have to steal this from you!! You look great in your picture by the way!! :)
Ditto to all the comments! And especially for me since we haven't actually met, I now have a pretty face to put with all the wonderful posts. I enjoy reading them, I'm glad Jason found me on facebook so that I could get to know the great woman he found! And way cute kids too.
I absolutely love this idea! I'm always taking pictures of my girl but not often enough do I get one with just me & her. What a great post...
What a great post!! I think this is a great idea. I'll have to do it when i have kids. I guess i could do it with just me and my hubby.
By the way your beautiful and so are your kids.
Great idea! You guys all look so adorable. I love little Payson's sass! I see no double chins. I absolutely LOVE looking in our family photo albums and seeing how much we've changed over the years.
I think that is a great idea!!! YOU LOOK GORGEOUS by the way!! You are lookin so hot!! And your kids are just the cutest!!
I love the Photo, keep it up!!
You don't know me, I linked to your blog thru a friend's, but I really liked your post today and the picture of you and your kids is adorable! Esp the fauxhawk. SO CUTE! And that is a great idea, I see pics of my mom and just miss having her around.
SO true! I avoid pictures at all costs, because they just depress me. And yet how much more depressing to have no record of my life with my family.
BTW, you shouldn't fear the camera. You're beautiful!
That is such a sweet picture! And I'm also guilty as charged. In my defense, though, I'm the only one that takes the pictures :)
What a great way to look at it! I am always so self conscience about having my pic taken with Mckinley but now I will think twice about it and probably snap that photo! You look darling by the way!
It really is a good idea. You are so inspiring! It's so easy to feel self conscious as a Mom sometimes but you're so right, kids don't care. I love your gorgeous curly hair by the way. I know I've told you that a million times, but it's still true. :)
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