Photographs Matter – When Dreams Come True
Dreams are powerful beasts. They can take over our sleep, as well as our waking hours.
As adults, we may not talk about them as much as children. Children have an unrelenting and innocent way of talking about what’s on their hearts and minds non-stop until they find a resolution.
While Mindy doesn’t talk about her own dreams of becoming a parent and how much it means to her to be Mike and Maddie’s mom, I find the story she shares below to be powerful in a twofold way. The path to adoption was not easy. The path in which she walks as a single parent is not easy. And yet, she finds so much joy in helping her children march on their own journey. In helping them become strong and mindful and kind humans. And in making their dreams come true.
It is this one photograph, taken in a quiet moment, in the midst of milestones and dreams, that touches her heart every time she sees it.
I adore pictures and there are oh so many that mean the world to me, including the beautiful ones you have done for us. Pictures with my grandparents, my great grandmother, etc are all copied and available to me at my mom’s, so excluding those it is this one. It makes me smile.
It marks an event that was extremely important to my kids, yet one I didn’t think Mike would ever be capable of (in the early days). It is a silly Disney snapshot from our first day, first trip. It is the reason we go back so often and why my children call it their happy place. All they talked about in foster care apparently was someday going to Disney. All they talked about when they moved in with me was “can we please go to Disney?”
It was their dream and there were a million huge smiles and hugs with their favorite characters, the look of amazement when Maddie saw a princess, etc. when we got there, but this one was in a quiet moment. They were soaking it all in and happy and their dream had come true. This is the quiet happiness and look of contentment that I didn’t often see in Mike back then.
This is one of a thousand + Disney pictures we posess and yet it remains my absolute favorite. More for what it represents, but also what it began – discovering Mike’s independence and his ability to deal with things we didn’t think he would. It is a picture of happiness, contentment and hope. And that is sappy and I know it. 🙂 But, that is why it is hanging on my desk at work, on my nightstand at home and is my screensaver. My walls are crammed full of beautiful pictures, yet writing about this one makes me tear up.
Come back next week for a photograph that is nearly a century old and how it sparked a love for a summer tradition carried on for decades that is now being passed down to future generations.