Freeze frame
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 9:26AM When you go wandering on the Internet, there are no footprints in the snow to help you find your way back, remind you of the trees you walked beneath or the animals that crossed your path.
In the dead of the night, startled by a dream, a noise, age, I went wandering. Followed a link to a post that linked to another that loved a third. And so on. And somehow, I found a photographer who wanted to give a prize: a free photo shoot in your house. After which, she would present the lucky reader with a book of photos meant to capture a day in their life.
In all its ordinary extraordinariness.
Describe the challenges and triumphs, she asked. Tell me about the moments you want to freeze frame.
And then I saw it: the deadline I'd missed. I'd wandered into the forest looking for autumn leaves and found them submerged in the creek bed beneath winter's ice shards.
But it's the dead of the night again, a different night, and the sump pump wakes me. Its alarm triggered by the power outage of a strong winter storm. And I'm thinking of the five minutes I shared with Esme the other morning when we sat in a darkened room, hands intertwined, cheeks touching. Her carpool was late and we waited. In a silence that screamed "Remember this moment!"
I think of the fat tears that fill Tobias' dark brown eyes, wet his lashes and somehow stay suspended on his cheeks. His slap red round cheeks and impish smile. The way he crawls like a bear cub to my belly to watch TV, then puts his hand in my shirt. A reminder. Reassurance. I see him kiss me, how he holds his lips steady until they are ready to meet mine squarely. He puckers, then smooches with tender precision.
"Do it again," I say. "Again." "Again."
And if I'd found the photographer's site in time, that's what I would have told her. About those ordinary moments so extraordinary they keep me awake at night.
Reader Comments (17)
Beautiful post, Dana.
Home run!
Yes.
I really love the way you write. That's about all I have to say, but I thought I'd say it.
Beautiful post, Dana! And it was mentioned in DC Blogs Noted - yay!
::sigh::
i love this so very much.
This was lovely. So very and truly lovely.
Dana, I thought I left a comment on this post when you originally wrote it. But when you posted a comment on my blog today I came over to look & saw nothing. I must have imagined writing it! This is really one of my favorite pieces you've written lately. Maybe because I'm in that frame of mind of noticing little moments as well....but mainly because it is just so beautifully written.
Thank you for sharing it!
-Gina
Gorgeous writing. Just gorgeous.
Extraordinary ordinary moments, captured here in words instead of photographs. As indelible and lasting and true as any image could ever be. You don't know me well, but I prefer words to photos. I love a writer who can paint me a picture with her words.
As you have done here.
I love this post.
Thank you.
I came here via Nichole's Small Moments Spotlight, and I'm leaving here remembering how my son would keep a hand just inside the neckline of my tee shirt. Reassurance.
Thank you.
Beautiful moments to remember. Thank you for sharing!
Such perfect, soft but crystal clear images.
Stopping by from Nichole's.
So glad I did.
Yes, this really was beautiful. I am desperate to snap up the moments I share with my daughter before my son is born. I missed so much of her infancy, being wrapped up in being me and being in denial about being a mother.
Thank you for sharing this.
Beautiful! Oh those moments are so precious. Stopping by from Nichole's, too.
Fantastic writing. Always
That is beautiful...a beautiful image...so many memorable tiny moments. I love this!
Also visiting from Nichole's Small Moments Spotlight and so glad that I did. Your words are magical and transported me into your memories and beyond to my own. Thank you.