This picture is worth 1,000 words. And here they are:   I love this picture because it is a metaphor for the year in which I have been raising my son. This is his first birthday photo, his view of the world, walking side by side with Mommy. I took time off work to experience his first year of life and it was a fulfilling experience.   Zack learned to walk, learned a few words and learned to strive for independence. And he did it all with my guiding hand by his side. We walk side by side, I teach him and he learns. He is an absolute joy in my life. He⿿s got such a sweet spirit. He⿿s developed a fundamental self and I was instrumental in that and it makes me feel like I⿿ve done something great on planet earth. We tried for a long time to have him and what a blessing he is.   This photo is also a reminder to me that the law of attraction really works. I had envisioned this photo for a few months. I wanted to do the color accent in these pants. I got specific about what kind of pants I wanted ⿿ they had to be in my current size, 12, they had to have red on the cuffs and I wanted to pay only $1 for them. I thought about the pants for a while. I looked here and there for the pants. Then one day when his first birthday was nearing I stopped by an unadvertised garage sale in a neighborhood I⿿d never been to before. And there they were ⿿ size 12, red on the cuff and only $1. I attracted these pants into my life! How cool is that? I just LOVE a minor miracle.   I also love that my five-year-old daughter, Ainsley, took this photo. See, I⿿m a photographer, as well as a writer, but this time I wanted to be IN the picture. So, I asked my husband to take it, but then my daughter was upset because she wanted to take some too. She⿿s actually a very good photographer. Once you get over the risk of letting a small child play with your expensive camera you will be surprised at what will result. Yes, your roll of film or your gallery on the cell phone will be full of pictures of the floor or a wall or shots of a wavy cartoon or pictures of other pictures. But, there is great wonder and surprise when you find a gem like this. She⿿s taken other pictures that I have framed and hung and I really think she⿿s got artistic vision.  Of course, I did the Photoshop work.   Also, I love that I⿿m not afraid to have my butt photographed. It feels empowering to me to know that I look perfectly fine at a size 12. I almost feel rebellious against the current size 0 mentality overtaking women of all ages. Look at my butt. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It is perfectly normal and perfectly curvy and nothing at all I should be ashamed of. I like my thighs too. Isn⿿t it just so rebellious? That I⿿m not resisting having my photo taken? That I⿿m courageous enough to not only hang it in my living room, but also to post it on the Internet for the whole world to appreciate or scrutinize.   This photo was shot at my uncle⿿s house. My grandfather built this house with his own hands. I love that it⿿s still in my family and is my uncle⿿s utopia. The house is located in an old Mormon colony, Kelsey, Texas, which is where my people hale from. Just a bunch of religious rebels who found their own little piece of America and made it their own with churches and stores and schools. The town no longer exists, but the personality is still there and the Mormons remain steadfast in their quest for spiritual freedom.   This place looms as ⿿The Rock House⿿ in my family⿿s own legend. My son is the fifth or sixth generation to come here and feel at home here with four generations surrounding him. That⿿s awesome. On this day my parents had come to visit and his great-grandmother and great-great aunt, and a great-aunt and uncle were also there. He is so lucky and blessed to know these wonderful people and to bask in their adoration on his birthday. I too am so lucky that I have this kind of love to raise my son in.    I also love that it⿿s taken at an angle; life is pretty angular I think. Sometimes we walk at a diagonal. Rarely is life ever the straight and narrow path we think it should be. But, hold on to Mommy⿿s hand and you⿿ll probably be okay.   And I love his cute little naked bum. Who doesn⿿t think a baby⿿s cute naked bum is the cutest thing ever? I mean, it⿿s just so chunky and the bow legs ⿿ this kid is just the quintessential Buddha baby. Pre-two is about the only time you can get away with capturing your children naked and not have it perverted in some way. So flipping cute ⿿ I made that. Yeah, half of those genetics are mine and I grew that boy in my stomach and fed him with my breasts and made sure he grew the right way and taught him virtually everything he knows. I do good work ⿿ I am so proud of myself.   I also love that my uncle repaved the pitted driveway with shingles left from the recent remodel of the house. My family is very frugal. It⿿s a skill, a craft ⿿ frugality is and it has served me well in my life. Whether it⿿s part of our genetic code or something learned out of necessity from our sharecropper history, frugality is definitely our way of life. The whole ⿿green⿿ movement ⿿ reduce, reuse, recycle is just the way we live to save money.   I also exposed this film accidentally as I was changing the battery on my camera. It was a total brain-fart moment where I opened the back of the camera instead of the battery compartment. I immediately prayed, God, please let me keep the pictures we just shot. And sent the film off with a little bit of anxiety that I might have to restage the whole thing. But, I got this wonderful photo and several others worth framing and whatever was exposed is not missed.    That⿿s 1,082 words. Totally worth it. Is it worth 1,000 dollars? Going Once . . .

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