I’m not much one for contests… I don’t enter drawings, I don’t buy lottery tickets, and I’ve never entered artwork or writing or photography into any sort of competitive event. I’m not sure if it goes back to my evolution toward a less-competitive lifestyle, or an over-awareness of the sheer unlikeliness that I would win given the numbers of it all, or a fundamental laziness.
But (you could hear that “but” coming, right? Like a breakup “but,” without the fake flattery) sometimes I get weak. Like when there’s a contest asking me to post a photo that shows what motherhood means to me, as we sneak up on Mother’s Day, as I am mired in an ongoing attempt to get pregnant again, as I have a dozen other posts swirling around that I’m not quite ready to unleash just yet… I’m weak. I cave.
Because there’s this photo, taken in late April, 2000, when I hadn’t been a mother long enough to realize I was tired. I hadn’t yet figured out the value of a consistent routine, because I hadn’t done anything long enough to establish a routine. I still had bruises from childbirth, fumbled clumsily through breastfeeding, and ached, from the heart out, whenever I looked at this tiny, outside-of-me creature who had arrived five shocking weeks early and promptly upended everything I thought I knew about life. So we laid there, this tiny thing and I, and stared, and tried to figure each other out.
We’re still trying to figure it all out, eight years later, and some days I’m not sure I know all that much more than when I started. But most of the time, I realize that I’ve come a long way, and am starting to get a vague glimmer of just how much more there is to learn.
I think this photo is beautiful. And so are both of you!!
xo
By: Annie on April 30, 2008
at 7:45 pm
That is an absolutely beautiful picture Kate!!!
By: Tara...Yeah like Gone with the Wind on April 30, 2008
at 9:35 pm
GREAT picture! So raw.
By: In the Trenches of Mommyhood on April 30, 2008
at 10:24 pm
I think you’ve got a very good handle on it, Kate. Not speaking from any position of knowledge, just from agreeing very much with what I read here on the subject.
Post the link to the voting, everyone else does, already know my favorite.
By: Paul is a Hermit on April 30, 2008
at 10:56 pm
Everytime I see this photo I just think how amazing it is and how much it really says “MOTHER”
By: destiny on April 30, 2008
at 11:22 pm
Beautiful words to go with a absolutely beautiful photo!
By: Elaine on April 30, 2008
at 11:38 pm
great picture. me and my girlfriend are just becoming parents and our little girl is 7 weeks today. im so going to miss when she is this age.
http://jericosystems.com/2008/03/13/mischa-ericovna/
By: Eric Hamby on May 1, 2008
at 6:41 am
What a beautiful picture. Make sure you let us know if you become a finalist so we can all vote for you!
By: Kristi on May 1, 2008
at 1:26 pm
What a great photo.
By: Karmyn R on May 1, 2008
at 1:43 pm
That is an amazing photograph. I love the eye contact you two are sharing.
By: Magi on May 1, 2008
at 2:11 pm
Totally awesome photograph. The old saying a picture is worth a thousand words fits perfectly here. I hope you have this hanging up in your house.
Hugs my friend.
By: JaniceNW on May 1, 2008
at 3:37 pm
Great photo Kate and at 51 years of age, we’re still trying to figure each other out. It’s the longest learning curve of my life but one I wouldn’t swap for the world.
By: Baino on May 1, 2008
at 4:31 pm
Love the photo!
By: Melissa on May 3, 2008
at 12:43 am
Oh, I love that picture! Absolutely gorgeous!!!
By: Fairly Odd Mother on May 4, 2008
at 4:45 pm