My Vow: To get in the picture!

A few days ago I was in the middle of one of my daily scans of Facebook, reading about the going-ons of my friends and family and smiling at cute pictures posted, when I came upon an article that one of my friends had posted. The title immediately caught my attention.

"The Mom Stays in the Picture."

I clicked on the article, began reading and connected with the author's words from the start. This woman could be me. In many ways this woman WAS me. Through this article the author, Allison Tate, a Mom like any other Mom I know, discusses the importance of being IN the picture with your child. In a world where Moms are so busy being everything for everyone, including photographer, it is so easy to be left out of the picture. In a world where Moms are so busy being everything or everyone that we often come last, it is so easy to WANT to be left out of the picture.

As Allison Tate so eloquently points out, "...we really need to make an effort to get in the picture. Our sons need to see how young and beautiful and human their mamas were. Our daughters need to see us vulnerable and open and just being ourselves -- women, mamas, people living lives. Avoiding the camera because we don't like to see our own pictures? How can that be okay?"

We need to get in the picture.

I adore taking pictures of my daughter. Capturing those moments in time, a look, a smile, a milestone. And I adore taking pictures of Autumn with her Daddy. Looking back at the hundreds of pictures that I have taken over Autumn's 2 1/2 years, that is what makes up the majority. Autumn by herself or Autumn with her Dad. There are very few pictures of Autumn with me.

I need to get in the picture.

Again, Allison Tate says it significantly better than I am able to. "I'm everywhere in their young lives, and yet I have very few pictures of me with them. Someday I won't be here -- and I don't know if that someday is tomorrow or thirty or forty or fifty years from now -- but I want them to have pictures of me. I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how much I loved them. I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother."

And so my vow is to start handing over the camera and getting in the picture. Regardless if I have yet to lose the baby weight, or didn't have time to perfect my makeup. If my hair isn't brushed or my clothes don't match. I know when Autumn looks back those are not the things she will see.

She will see her Mama holding her in a picture she will have forever. And what is more important than that?

Read Allison Tate's full article here