Let Them Take The Picture

Momma… Let me tell you something. You are beautiful. Your kids think you are beautiful. They will want to have pictures of you one day. I want to share with you a sweet lesson I learned from my (almost) 9 year old this week.

Yesterday, I saw a bloom on my rose bush outside and immediately went inside to tell Wyatt about it. He is my plant lover. He came outside with me and I took a picture of the bloom.

I wanted to capture how tall the plant was as well, so I had him take a picture standing by it.

After we took that one he said “Mom! You go by it and I will take your picture!”
My initial reaction, silently spoken in my head: Oh goodness, no. My hair is not brushed, I’m in a well worn (code for OLD) pair of leggings, and no makeup. Not exactly the pretty posed pictures that I would prefer someone to take.
Choosing not to focus on that, I stood by my rose bush and Wyatt stood back with my phone. Sweet boy, as he was standing there taking the picture, he said “wow this is a good one.”
He proudly showed me the picture that he took and told me, “there are two pretty things about this picture. You and the rose bloom.”

Gosh it melted my heart! And also reinforced in my brain that children do not see all of the stuff that we see. They don’t put pressure or expectations on themselves to have picture perfect moments. They see what really counts. In this case, my boy saw his mom and her favorite rose plant blooming. Pure happiness.
Pictures are a way to freeze frame time, and regretfully sometimes, they are all we have left of someone.