A Normal Day
On October 18th, my daughter was born and I became the mother of three children. Hundreds of miles away, on the same day, another baby girl was born and another woman added the third child to her family. We were complete strangers at that time, but our love of photography and family brought us together. We started to have a conversation about motherhood with images, because we tell stories with our cameras. Since some tales are so similar, and some are not, we decided to collaborate and share a photo a week from a normal day as a mother to three.
“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.”
― Mary Jean Irion
You are such a sudden and wild thing. Still happy and sweet, but also sort of dangerous and brave, a bit impatient with us for sometimes putting you back in your place. You run away from us when you do something naughty. You have started to tell us, "No." We keep working on all of it, slow and steady, mostly gentle, except when you go off a sudden swerve and we have to grab you right up and put you back at start.
Photo by Olivia Gatti
i know i shouldn't compare. but every day i see bits of them in you. and it is not just the fact that you wear their clothes. you act like them too. i am remembering the early days when your sister became interested in art. she used to use her body as her canvas. and i can picture how adventurous your brother was trying to climb and jump off of things long before his little body was ready. i had almost forgotten those things. but you remind me of them. so i guess comparing isn't all bad.
Photo by Heather Robinson Photography