Candid Shots

My friend Laura emailed me after school today. She was a parent assistant at the kids' school today, and she was in Ava'a classroom during her lunch. She had her camera with her, and she was snapping pictures of the Pre-K kids, when Ava beckoned her over and said "When you take a picture of someone when they're doing something, that's called a candid picture."

That Ava...she amazes me every day with her insight, her bright mind, and her servants heart. But when Laura emailed me to tell me about Ava teaching her a thing or two about candid shots (hee!), it made me think.

What are the candid pictures our kids, our spouses, our friends are getting of us every day?

I don't mean this literally, although if you have a professional photographer hanging out in your house just waiting to get that perfect portrait, I am jealous and want you to send them over when you're finished. I mean in every day life, in our days at home, at school, out and about, what are the candid shots getting stored in our loved one's memories?

For me, I hope they will have memories of all of us sprawled on the couch together like puppies, watching a movie, or laying on the trampoline looking at clouds. I hope they will remember me as a smiling Mama, one who will drop everything to play a game or do a puzzle. I hope my friends picture me as kind, that John thinks of me as loving.

Realistically, I know that this probably will not be the case...those are the 'keepers', the good shots taken from the larger pile. There are many other pictures, face down on the floor, of me looking upset or sad, spending time on the computer and brushing them off, or telling them "in a little while." The shot of me getting frustrated with Ava's reading instead of being patient...the time I told Jace that there was no time to play a game just because I knew he'd lose interest anyway. Times when I do nothing but complain to my friend, or times I don't take the time to listen to John. There are many moments where there is a clear choice and I don't always put them first. Those are the shredders, the candid shots I want to make sure no one remembers.

Sometimes it all comes down to that split second choice when we choose one thing over another. It seems like it doesn't matter, but to our kids or our husband or our spouse, that small thing they're looking for could have made their day. It is so easy for me to get stuck in my own head, my own selfishness, that I forget that until after feelings have already been hurt.

But I love my family...my husband and kids, my Mom, my friends who have become like family to me. I can't see my kids without falling in love with them all over again, every day. Our main goal in parenting these kids is to raise them up to be Godly people, and second to that, we want them to feel loved, to know that we've taken every second of parenting, even the hard parts (and oh, they're a coming), and counted it all joy. I want my mom and my friends to know what blessings they are to me. I want John to know that he is loved and respected.

I want to reflect those things in the candid moments in life, those split seconds in life that seem like nothing but can be the memory that stands out above the rest.

What candid shots do your loved ones have of you?