Last year, I decided to backup the photos on my phone and computer to an external hard drive. I’d been thinking about doing it for a while, but of course there are a million other things I’d rather be doing than moving over photos and categorizing them. Like, watching paint dry, or watching anything on Bravo (don’t judge, it’s my thing). So, one day, I finally sat down to do it.
I realized after I started looking at the photos that the only family photos that I was in were from our wedding. I wasn’t in any others! I was always the one taking the photos of the Captain and the kids. So, when I looked back at all of the holidays, get togethers, parties and memories, there was no actual photographic evidence of me in the family.
From the moment we moved in together (that’s a story for another blog), I wanted the kids to feel like they still had their one-on-one time with their dad, and the fact I was with their dad, and we were living together, wasn’t going to change everything. Who the hell was I kidding? Of course it was going to change everything. And, you know what, that’s okay. We can’t freeze a moment and make it something that it isn’t. I was with them and I was a part of those memories.
I went so far the other direction of wanting them to have quality time, and solid memories with their dad, that I took myself out of the mix (and the photos). It didn’t even occur to me to be in the photos.
Instead of looking at a bunch of photos of my family (yes, MY family), while I saved and categorized the photos, I found a bunch of photos like these (that’s Lucille Ball the Tortie cat and Aggie McDougall the Westie dog), oh and some cheese platter I made:
Sometimes it takes something unexpected to show you the way. For me, it was moving photos to an external hard drive.
So, now I take more selfies, so we can all be in the photos, as a family. It took a long time for me to realize that I oughta be in pictures, too.
The Unofficial Stepmom 
Well….and the Cheese Platter is a very deserving of a pic!
LikeLiked by 1 person