What's in a photo?

My friend mailed me this photo I took of Brady with her camera a few weeks ago.  And I can't stop staring at it.  The texture of his hair, his blue eyes, how his squint has always been uneven (my little pirate).  It even brings back the exact memory of him that night; climbing up my legs & looking at me, asking to be picked up.  There's something so powerful about photos.  And in the digital age, we don't do enough with them.  I guarantee if I'd taken this photo with my own camera, it would be filed away on my hard drive somewhere under "June 2013" - waiting for me to get around to doing something with it.  Like I always plan to do but just never get around to doing.  C'est la vie, right?

My goal is to get more photos out in my home this year.  To look at them regularly, put them in albums (digital of course, but hey, you can flip pages still!), change them out in frames as new ones are taken and printed.  There's just something really sacred about holding a photo of a beloved in your hands and being able to look at them, study them, remember that age or year or moment.

And Bradykins, you should just know this.  There are times that I see you (or in this case, a photo of you) that my heart seriously threatens to burst wide open with how much I love you.  I am continually overwhelmed with love for you and I am already so proud of the little man you are becoming.  You are eager to learn, you're starting to grasp concepts & what I'm asking of you, and you are serious about what you're doing but never afraid to lean your head in when I ask, "Can Mama have a kiss?"  You're already the perfect blend of wild & tender.

This photo captures so much for me of who you are at 13 months old, and I'm so grateful for the tangible reminder in the mail today.