A Day With Papa

When I was raising up my children I mostly saw them through the lens of a camera.  I wanted to make sure I would remember what they looked like and what they did as they grew up.

I seem to have a peculiar affliction that prevents me from remembering faces.  When I think of people, unless I've known them well, I remember not themselves, but a photograph.  

There are places I've been as a teenager and I don't remember them because there are no photographs of the incident to remind me.  

I wonder if my brain would have compensated if there were no photos at all, 

but I didn't want to risk it.  

I have way too many albums from when my kids were little and I love them all.  

I don't take nearly as many photos these days.  I like to enjoy these children in my life and not spend my life behind a camera.

Sometimes, I wish I could have recorded the second two boys early years in the way I did Zane's, but I couldn't.  Zane was right here in the house, and I had cancer when Barry was one.  

I don't really need hundreds of photos to have a record of what those boys looked like while they are growing up.  Some things are more valuable because of their rarity.

That being said, it's Zane's turn for the spotlight today.  He spent part of weekend with us a week ago when November was still harking back to October.* Zane is a busy boy at nearly 7 and it is a good thing for him to have productive activities to occupy his time.  

Jim is cleaning up some trees on the edge of our property and he thought Zane could help him load twigs and small branches.  While Zane did help with that, he had a lot more fun using the Sawzall cutting off smaller branches.

It's never too soon to learn about steering. And what could be more fun than Papa's John Deere.

 You can't really see it, but Zane has his hand on some lever or other as they get ready to back out of there.  

We want to remember these days.

*Anne of some place or other