Ordinary Days

In one of the hundreds of magazines I have piled to read when I have time (ha ha)I found a blurb about a book called "The Gift of an Ordinary Day". Coincidentally, the same week someone sent me a link to a video by the books author reading an excerpt from her book. The premise she has is what I always think about. (By the way, I didn't finish the book. It wasn't what I was hoping for...)

I started thinking about "ordinary days" as I am putting together a photo album for my oldest son. He is graduating from high school in 2 months! Several years ago, my photo album lady had a class about "Windows in Time" and how to create an album that would go from birth through graduation. I have prepared an album for all my kids, but my son's is the first I have started to put photos in. Anyway, it was recommended to get an accordion folder and divide the photos by album page title, so I did. The titles include things like; activities, friends, dances, religion, school, winter holidays, spring, birthdays etc.. So, as I am putting photos in, it strikes me how many photos I have in front of birthday cakes and Christmas trees. Dyeing Easter eggs, and characters at Disneyworld. What don't I have photos of? The very things I will miss the most about being a parent. The things that make a day "ordinary".

I have often thought about having a video camera somewhere to record an ordinary day. The most precious things to me are the morning snuggles, the teeth brushing, the tickle wars. The bedtime stories, the little, innocent faces when they are finally asleep. Eating dinner together at the table, swinging on the swings, playing Candyland. These are the things I will miss the most when my kids are grown. They are the things I have no photos of. It is interesting that what is the most dear to our day, we choose not to photograph. Or, perhaps we are having so much fun enjoying these things that it is foolish to stop doing them simply to pose for a picture.

So, I see the authors title painfully true. The true gifts can't be unwrapped on birthdays or Christmas or even "just because". The true gifts of parenting are the wonders and joys and even the tears of an ordinary day.