Stop and reflect for a moment.

If you look through your family photos, how many images include you?

Even more telling, are there any photos just of you?

Not you breastfeeding, not you with a toddler swinging off your hip in a sling, not you on a family hike, not you pushing a swing.  Just you.  On your own.

Imagine.

If you have been wise enough to include such photos in the family collection, we applaud you.  We’re guessing, however, that you’re a lot like the rest of us and maybe only have a few, and of these maybe only one that you actually like.  Or maybe even none at all.

In a recent Mama Renew group my dear friend Nancy, photographer extraordinaire, gifted each woman participating with a photo session.  Just for us.  No kids allowed.  No partner.  Just mama.

What a beautiful gift.  And a perfect way to strike absolute terror into my heart. Just of me?  I tried to bargain, asking to include the kids.  At the root was my fear – what if I didn’t like what I saw?

Soon after my 40th birthday Nancy reintroduced me to myself through her lens. She came with not only her camera, but the desire to capture my way of being in the world.  Her images will serve as a testimony to my unique beauty, and who I am as woman today.

Thank you, Nancy!

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Our Mama Renew challenge to all of you?  Find a Nancy.

She may be a professional photographer, or a dear friend.

Let yourself be seen through someone else’s eye –

and may you find beauty in your own reflection.

Tags: family photos, motherhood, mothering, photography, self-care

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Adventure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.