Every picture tells a story! To me, this picture of my son, when he was two, will always remain special.
Every picture tells a story! To me, this picture of my son, when he was two, will always remain special. This was taken in the summer of 2006 at Trafalgar Square, when my parents had come to visit us in the UK and we had decided to take them on a sightseeing trip to London.
2006 was a tumultuous year in my life for very personal reasons that I’m not going to elaborate here. While it was a year that I’d happily forget for a number of reasons, it is ironical, that I chose to hold onto one of the most defining moments of my life through this snapshot.
It reminds me of my younger days in beautiful Cheshire. It reminds me of hope, of unconditional love and innocence that reaffirmed my faith in life when there was every reason to give it all up. It reminds me of the little everyday moments with my son—of inane conversations, silly laughter, of playing rough-and-tumble and peekaboo, of humming along to our favourite nursery rhymes and cosy story times in cold and windy Manchester. It reminds me how I learnt to embrace motherhood after years of fearing that it would take away my independence and devour my solitude, and eventually, of my discovery that motherhood came as one of the biggest blessings that helped dispel my angst and hurt and helped me move on from the extreme negativity and depression that surrounded me at the time.
Some feelings and some experiences in life seem to defy description. They make you bask in their bliss and bring a smile to your lips, even when you know that you’ve had moments alongside those, that made you crumble and fall apart—both being equally real and powerful experiences but somehow, when you look back, you only wish to remember the one that brought you warmth and joy. Well, this picture falls into that category. That sense of purpose in the stride of my two-year-old marching with the pigeons always brings a smile to my face, leaving me with a warm fuzzy feeling that I felt that summer day in London.
Every time I see this picture, I remember myself being part broken, part happy and part despairing; feigning normalcy because I didn’t wish to talk about my feelings and yet, trying to be the best mum that I could ever be, to a little human being that needed me more than anything or anyone else.
It reminds me of a feeling that I’ve always cherished—the joy of being a mother, so unlike what I’d ever imagined in my life earlier, but one, that has since, given meaning to my life, and a purpose that I’ve held onto through the highs and lows of life.
Life brings tears, smiles and memories. The tears eventually dry up, and the smiles, well they fade too, but the memories linger on, and sometimes, as in the case of this picture, stay on forever!
Now that you’ve read all about my most cherished object, I’d love to know about yours too. Which cherished object do you hold close to your heart? I’ll be looking forward to reading your thoughts in the comments below.
*********
Linking up with Damyanti for the Cherished BlogFest 2017 where people post about things/people they hold close to their heart. If you’d like to join in or just read the other blog posts related to this year’s Cherished Blogfest, do click here.
This is a lovely picture of your little boy and a sweet memory too. Understand why you picked them as the theme for the cherished blogfest.
Thank you Evelyn! Glad you stopped by and shared your thoughts on my post! Hope to see you again. 🙂
I loved the photo of your son:) its surely a great click and there is so much more to the pic and its a phase that you have been through, one can never imagine or understand the background of a picture… .. thanks for sharing your feelings, I admire your courage.
Thank you so much Angela. Glad you appreciate the thoughts and the sentiments behind this cherished post. It means a lot to me!
Marching with the pigeons is the cutest. I can see why you like the photo and why the story surrounding it means so much to you. Delightful.
Thank you so much Ally! I’m so glad you appreciate the sentiments behind the photo so well! See you here again. 🙂
Thank you for this beautiful reminder that hope, unconditional love, and innocence can deepen and reaffirm our faith in life when there seems to be every reason to give it all up. This is very powerful.
Thank you so much Donna! It did reinstate my faith and hope at a time when it would have been much easier to call it quits! I guess what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger!
I agree with bellybytes… prize-worthy photo, touching story.
Thank you very much, Katie. Your appreciation means a lot to me. 🙂
This is a lovely photo and I can see how it is the cherished one. It is a moment or a day of happy feeling amid the low phase. I think I have similar happy photos with D which will be most cherished for me, being in the same phase as you but 7 years later.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Anamika. I find the parallels between our lives very uncanny. Maybe, our destinies were marked in a similar fashion. Don’t you find the co-incidences very similar? Perhaps that’s why we share experiences and can relate to them much easily.
Let me first say that its a beautiful picture of your son! Though you had one heck of a year which shows up in the words flowing emotions out of them through your post, I feel that you took the best out of it which shows your positive attitude towards life and being a sport no matter what!
That’s an awesome photo. A perfect click at a perfect time. I’m sorry that you had to go through a tough time but I’m glad your cherished object made you feel partly happy at the difficult times. That’s a wonderful approach to seeing life.
Thank you Suja! So glad to see you stop by and share your thoughts. Life brings us lessons to go with the tough times and a lot depends on how we choose to see them!
A treasure it was, I hope so. Sorry to hear that you had a tough time during 2006.
Thanks Vasantha! I’ve moved on from those days so that’s ok!
This isn’t just a cherished picture- it’s prizeworthy! Thanks for sharing this as well as the memory in which you have pretty much bared your soul. I don’t have any cherished object as such but I do have many keepsakes that I cherish that remind me of good and happy times- my daughter’s baby tooth, my first ever ink pen, a doll’s cardigan knitted by a grand aunt …. over the years there are many!
Thanks a lot, Sunita. Yes, I got really emotional writing this and recalling those roller coaster days but thankfully, one has had so much more to experience that bad memories can be put away and the happy ones brought to the fore in a rather conscious way. I’d love to read your post as I can see you have so many cherished objects to write about although I guess the deadline is just over. But you can always write about it, you know like I did, last year! Happy Monday to you 🙂
Thanks 🙏
Quite an emotional post. Thank you for participating in the Cherished Blogfest.
Thank you Sharukh. I’m happy to be a part of #CBF17. Have to catch up with all the pending posts from the last three days. Hopefully, today is the day. 😊
I thought that was a beautiful photo of your son before I even read the post. Now, it is more so. I’m sorry that you had to go through difficult times in 2006, but those are the times that make us stronger and take stock in what we have, especially when it comes to friends and family. I hope you are doing well and want to thank you for participating in the Cherished Blogfest.
Thank you so much, Mary! I had missed it last year so was very keen to join in for CBF17. Gladiator made it in time. I agree with you how tough times make us stronger! We build a lot of resilience within with them, don’t we? So glad you stopped by the blog and shared your thoughts. 🙂
It’s a beautiful photo. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks you very much. 🙂
Your post is quite universal in nature because all of us sometimes experience this mixed emotions. I’m sure everyone can connect well with these feelings, Esha! Many times we want to forget some phases but we can’t…even though they were not the best years of our lives but I guess our memory brings it up for a different reason! That we can overcome! Time will pass, things will take a turn!