Polaroids

I recall when the kids were mere babies and we were dealing with two children still on formula and in diapers.  I was working full time during the day, and Darrell was staying home with the kids.  I loved that he got to spend that time with them, but as soon as our days crossed paths, he was off to work to bartend.  He would get home between four and five in the morning usually.  Jalyn would often wake up when he got home, so he would spend a little time with her, snapping Polaroids of her early hour exploits, which he would place for me to find when I started my day, complete with a little caption written at the bottom.   He would continue to do the same throughout the day, documenting by Polaroid (pre-digital camera days) the things I was missing.   It was a blurry, dazed portion of my life, that sadly, I wish I had treasured more while I was living it. 

Now our days consist of yet more early mornings, rushing to get out of  the house and to school/work on time.  The same as all families, I guess.  Short evenings of dinner, baths, homework, bedtime stories and the occasional school events and sporting practices.  It’s a catch-22 really, because even if I didn’t work full time, I still wouldn’t be able to be with the kids during the day since they are at school.  But how I miss seeing their day to day lives.   Those silly moments.  Those tender moments.  I sure miss those Polaroids.

And although these aren’t the actual photos that Darrell would leave for me to find, they are pictures from the same time period, and they never fail to bring a nostalgic little tear to my eye, and remind me of how very far we’ve come.

(P.S. Sorry about the big, huge space at the end of this post…I couldn’t figure out why it was doing that!!)