Moments are fleeting; brief, but memorable. We want to remember them because they usually represent something significant, happy, meaningful, positive.
As a photographer my goal is to capture other people’s meaningful moments. As a special needs mom I am constantly, without success, trying to create moments, because sometimes I just want to feel like a typical parent. And that can get depressing. Like this evening, I took my son for a ride after dark to look at the holiday light displays in town. He loves to be out at night, in the dark, in the fresh air, or even just riding around in the car. At the first few houses (one entire street around here is famous for its lights and decorations) I noticed he was not too interested, probably because he couldn’t see out the window, his wheelchair was not quite high enough. I opened his window and he came to life- smiling, happy, loving the lights and the music… and then he had a seizure and fell asleep. Just like he always does (at least it seems like it) when we are having a good time. Once again, so much for our moment.
But he was wide awake at bedtime, and I stretched out next to him and we just played. We smelled the different lip balms he got in his stocking, and I put some on his dry lips; we read some funny articles in a magazine; he got some tickles from me; he was happy, smiling, giggling, genuinely enjoying our moment…these are the real moments, the ones that can’t be created, which is why they are so fleeting and why we try so hard to remember them, and why it is so important to pay attention and take notice when they are just happening.
