We were away the last 2 days. My husband is on vacation this week and we decided to go spend few days at my sister’s a few hours South. We left Tuesday afternoon and got a few errands done before they got home and then spent the holiday (St-Jean-Baptiste, French-Canadian holiday) walking around, having a nice barbecue, taking the kids to the park and bird/wildlife watching.
The thing is, with as much planning and packing as we did, I forgot my camera. So of course, I have no images to show you. Several times during that 36 hour period, I wished I had my camera : When my niece and son were playing peek-a-boo, when my daughter found the perfect walking stick while out in the woods, when the kids fed carrots to a very “humanized” groundhog at the local regional park, when we saw a majestic Peregrine Falcon flying above our heads… Notice how none of these are historical monuments or grand natural landscapes? I was surprised… I was surprised at how little I missed the camera for the “big” things.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a picture of a beautiful 300 year old building. Going somewhere new and capturing these amazing sights, bringing them home to share with others, to reminisce, is wonderful. But I tend to take my camera absolutely everywhere and end up sometimes taking the same picture 10 times. And I think it’s quite fun to go out and see everything as if you were seeing it for the first time. It is part of our cultivation to see everything with a child’s eye and heart, to live in the moment and to let go of preconceptions. But it does make for an extra heavy hard drive and a lot of sorting and filtering afterwards.
When I told my sister I had forgotten my camera, she offered that I used my brother-in-law’s. Of course I said yes… but then, the next day, I forgot it again. Hmmm… Was there a message there?
We came home last night and I had no pictures to share. Just stories of birds we got to see that we don’t get to see very often this high North (like Peregrine Falcons, Northern Cardinals, Purple Finches and Eastern Bluebirds. Of deer coming so close to us to graze that we could almost pet them. Of funny moments when endless cartwheels made little people giggle. Of amazing homemade foods that filled our plates and bellies. Of evening spent unraveling yarn after messing up a new pattern over and over again. (LOL!) And of bags full of Linden flowers brought home to dry. And when I have a cup of hand picked linden flower tea, all these images will fill my senses and speak to me 20 times more than pictures ever could.
Family, Faith, Food and Fabric 
It’s great that you are listening to those “messages” and instead of kicking yourself, realizing that it was a more enjoyable time without the camera. That is a big part of our family Waldorf culture. I believe that when we’re always videotaping and photographing, we lose the beauty of the moment and we miss the little things, like you say. I try to find balance because of course I do love my camera and pictures too! I try to limit myself. Take a few pics and then make myself put my camera away for the remainder of the time. It’s hard though! Glad you had a good get-away trip.
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I do the same thing. Sometimes, it leaves me rushing to get it out in order to catch something that I find really worth catching, but my camera these days spends more time in the case over my shoulder than in my hands. I’m loving the freedom. 🙂
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Oh my gosh, I love that! It sounds like you guys had a great time , but I love the part the most about remembering when you drink tea. A few years back we took the girls on a cross-country road trip and my biggest memories flooded back when I used the $0.99 shampoo we took with. 🙂 Nothing could match it. It sounds like it was magical trip.
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Haha! Love it!!! I just keep thinking back to my childhood. I have one picture album that covers birth to 4 years old. That was it. Filled with Polaroid pictures, half of them over exposed… But the stories my mom and dad tell me are so much real in my mind. We are so spoiled in this day and age. We just need to snap away and we can sit down and edit later. What a luxury!
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It’s so easy in these electronic days to let taking pictures take the place of making memories…don’t get me wrong; I love my camera and rarely go anywhere without it, and I love looking back over photo-memories. But those actual memories are an amazing thing that maybe we’re missing out on a bit in our world.
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Exactly. I’ve been good about forcing myself to put the camera down. Honestly, with my little whirlwind of a Little Man, I can’t hold on to him and the camera most times. But yes, just being in the moment, savoring those rare little spaces of perfect happiness, now that is magical!
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Sometimes holding the memories in your heart is much better than having them to look at 🙂
So glad you guys had a good time. xo
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Thank you Kim, we really did… Looking forward to a summer full of these happy memories… 🙂
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Lovely moments all beautifully captured by the camera in your heart. In some ways it captures images better. I was able to “see” your joy in these moments instead of the physical picture. And That is something worth sharing 🙂
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it. They were such happy moments. And yes, often times, these mental images are better. Easier to focus in on what makes them the most special.
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Your description is so vivid I can see all the pictures anyway! Sounds like a great trip.
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Thank you. It was… always too short, but we make the most of it. 🙂
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It sounds like a wonderful time and while I know I’d feel bereft without my camera I can really see how it forces you just to be and that can be such a lovely thing. I tend to take my camera everywhere but I’m trying to make it a few photos then camera away – some days it works better than others!!
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I know, so hard when you just want to capture it all. Again, this morning, I left the house with my camera on my shoulder and didn’t take a single picture. Too busy chatting and just enjoying my walk. Maybe it’s a turning point?
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Very precious words. Sometimes I think it’s great that blogging has encouraged me to take the camera everywhere and snap more photos, but then sometimes I have to remind myself it’s not the be all and end all of a trip. So much more important to have enjoyed a moment there and then than to be able to look back on it in a photo. Maybe I need to forget my camera a bit more too!
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It’s what I keep telling myself as well. 🙂
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Yes, this happens to me regularly. I joke with my husband that we are too busy living our lives to document them. Perhaps there’s some truth in that. Mostly though, I just forget the camera in the rush of gathering and getting out the door. Love the pictures you draw with your words.
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Thank you. I know how you feel. Most of the time, I end up taking pictures on the week-ends because my husband manages the kids while I can snap a few pics. Handling the kids, stroller, camera… Hmm… maybe that is why my camera is broke. Too many times hitting the ground. 😛
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My first thought, phone camera! 🙂 But yes, sometimes it’s best not to take pictures of everything. I learned this awhile back and stopped taking pictures all day long of my kids. They really don’t need ten thousand pictures of how they played blocks together…
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hehe that would have been a great idea. But I don’t have a cell phone. LOL! Yes, I know, how backwards am I right?
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