I will never forget Angry Snow White. Somewhere along the way she had snapped. Could it have been consuming one too many apples, making one too many unmade beds, serving one too many grumpy dwarves, or maybe it was taking one too many photos with tourists? Seconds after this shot was taken, Snow took those scrubbing hands of hers and sent the girls flying forward with a shove and a sickly sweet high pitched, "Have a nice day!" They caught themselves from hitting the pavement and looked at me with large surprised and amused eyes. "Um... Mom? Snow White just pushed us!" We could have been angry, but we chose to laugh. At their young age, they were able to see the humor in the situation and know that sometimes even Snow White does not have a very nice day. At my older age, I could feel her pain from dieting on fruit, making those endless unmade beds, dealing with grumpy short people, and snapping a million photos. A girl has got to get her fun somewhere!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
When the girls come home with the "bring in a photo" assignment, I'm toast. What the teachers don't realize is that I have thousands of photographs of the girls' childhood. Yesterday the photo request came on a particularly horrible day. My dad had a heart attack, and I couldn't keep the world from spinning or the tears from falling. I can't keep my babies from getting older. I can't keep my parents from getting older. The tears made my screen blurry as I searched for the photo, and yet they made something else very clear to me. My passion for photography is driven by the fact that for one two hundred and fiftieth of a second, I CAN make the world stop. I stop the world so that I remember all of life's details. I remember pink tights, round tummies, giggles, stamps on hands, undies hanging out, and crooked eyebrows checking themselves out in the mirror. I know one day my daughter will understand my tears when she remembers this day. Until then, I will continue to stop the world from spinning one photograph at a time.