Wonderful....

Thursday night, before my uncle's wake, Henry noticed that all four of us were dressed up at the same time. Clearly, if my six year old noticed, this doesn't happen very often.  Thankfully, at Henry's suggestion (he's a wise one for his years....), we set up the tripod and snapped a family picture.



This morning, as I uploaded pictures to my computer, Anna walked by just as I had this particular photo on my screen.  She stopped in her tracks and said, "Mommy - - We. Are. Wonderful...."

I decided in that moment, dressed up or not, we need to take pictures of us as a family more often.  There is no excuse not to.

Last year, my favorite photographer Tara Whitney started a personal project called "six people/twelve times."  Basically, she committed to take a family picture every month.  Mostly informal and casual.  It didn't matter where they were or what anyone was wearing.  The point was to get everyone together in a single frame and SNAP.  Each time, it took maybe five minutes to accomplish.  Simple as that.  But what a treasure to have.....

I'm in.

I think the sad events of the past week only helped to reaffirm how important photographs are to me.  To all of us.  (Not that I really needed reminding, though....).  All week, my family was surrounded by pictures, some from 70 years ago, and some from last week.  We talked and laughed and told stories and cried.  All prompted by the memories held in the images.  Our memories will live on through these photos. And now, they are more precious than ever.

So, here is my March installment of  "four people/twelve times."

Tara, Uncle Joe and Henry, thank you for the inspiration.