1 in 20,000.....

I am a picture nut. I am the first to admit it. From the time I was a little girl I loved looking at picture albums. Maybe it stemmed from the fact that I had a lot of family I either never got to meet or that I didn't remember. I learned to "Know" my brother through pictures, I figured out parts of my grandparents personalities the same way. As an adult you will seldom see me without my camera. I take it almost everywhere I go. In the past five years since Anna was born I think I have taken somewhere close to 20,000 pictures. Yes, that was not a misprint, I said close to 20,000. Granted some of them are the same attempted shot 20 times over, some are silly and some are bad shots, but I love them all.
Five out of Six of my nieces and nephews have birthdays in the next month. So I decided to make them each "facebook albums". I looked through all of my old pictures and put their lives in order as I have taken them. When I started this little project it was kind of to clear my mind. To empty my head of all of the thoughts and emotions I had collected from Austin's balloon release this weekend. Little did I know, Austin had other plans.
When Austin passed away last year I went through all of my pictures. I was pretty sure of each of the dates I had taken his picture on. Most were parties, play dates or at school. I spent hours working on projects with his pictures and I was so happy I had taken as many as I did of him. Then today I was going through pictures for Corey's Birthday album....and there it was. I couldn't believe I had missed this. For some reason I never remember seeing it. Most of my pictures I have some kind of memory of, but not this one. It is the same thing I see when I close my eyes at night. It is the face that greets me when I think of him. Those huge brown eyes and that little grin.
This is why I take so many pictures. This is why I love every picture I have captured. This is one of those little things that both made my day and brought me to tears. You're still up to your little surprises buddy.....