Story Behind the Picture: V is for Valentine

While the story of the original series can be read here, "Alphabet Soup" is still a work in progress as I search to complete the perfect series for both boys and girls. One such search was for another letter "V."

Danny: "But I love the van."
Me: "I know, sweetie, me too. But a little girl named Vanessa might not. Or her mommy, who is buying the print for her room, might not.
Danny: "Well, that's just silly. Who doesn't love vans?"

I happened to be in the basement later that afternoon, looking for something on an entirely different subject, when I rediscovered my great-grandmother's sewing basket. I lifted the woven lid and saw this pincushion sitting quietly amidst the wooden darning egg (which I still don't understand how to use), a myriad of beautiful buttons, and a jumble of colorful wooden spools. I hadn't remembered this little stuffed heart, but as soon as I saw it, I knew I found my new "V."

I took out all the pins with their colorful glass tops and brought it upstairs to my studio. Danny watched me quietly as I worked.
Danny: "I still like the van."
Me: "I know, sweetie, and that's the one that will stay in the book. But do you like this one as well?"

He walked over and picked it up, examining it in the light. I wondered when my great-grandmother made it, and imagined her smiling as she watched my child holding it in his hands.
"I do like it," he finally decided, a sweet smile spreading across his face as he spoke.

Story Behind the Picture: Candy Heart

Sometimes a photograph really doesn't have a dramatic story. Sometimes a photograph is just a little holiday greeting. Sometimes you have to put the myraid of candy canes that have over-run your house to good use.

I wish you all a day of simplicity, of sweetness, and - most of all - love.

Story Behind the Pictures: "My Funny Valentine" and "Offering"

So I have a little obsession with hands - I write stories about them, I photograph them, and I constantly wish my own were not showing early signs of the same arthritis which afflicts my mother and grandmother. My great-grandmother possessed such lovely hands that her husband decreed she wear white gloves when working behind the counter at their jewelry store, lest the gentlemen customers become smitten by their beauty. Mine? Well, they've been calloused by years of rowing, gripping my pen the wrong way, handling and training horses, and changing more diapers that I could possibly count. But what I love most are the hands of my children, still plump with baby fat, unable to tie shoes, yet oh-so-able to open doors they shouldn't and pull the dogs' tails. My two year-old (whose little finger is pointing to the red candy) snuck up on me as I was taking this photo...apparently he thought I wouldn't notice him giggling and stealing the cinnamon dot that formed the bottom point of the heart. The next photo is the hands of my four-year-old, who has grown into the most lovely, lively boy. He often asks if we can donate our extra toys and food to those who need it and helps me to collect and pack bags to bring to the city shelters.

Just yesterday I held my eldest's hand as he was prepped for surgery, giving it one final squeeze before he was wheeled away from me to the doors of the operating room. When he woke up a few hours later, he reached for me, and I sat thinking of the first time each of my boys grasped my fingers in their own, how we communicate first through our hands before any of our other senses have fully developed.

So, long after their wonderful baby dimples have faded from the backs of their hands, long after they can dress, feed, and even drive themselves, long after they've refused to hold my hand in public, I will have these photographs to remind me of how sweet and tiny (and occasionally troublesome!) those little hands once were.