The tiny apartment on the third floor, it’s where we brought home our first little pink bundle of girlyness.
We did our best to make that place our home. I painted the walls a soft yellow. I tried to sew pillows. And I was always looking at yard sales for some type of trash that could be turned into treasure.
It it was our first home and her first birthday.
While many of my mom friends were taking their soon-to-be one year olds to fancy photographers, dropping hundreds of dollars on those precious one-year-old photo shoots … I was clipping every coupon I could find to make ends meet.
She wouldn’t be having a Pinterest perfect party or a fancy photo shoot. Cake at the Mimi’s house and a few gifts would be it.
But I still wanted her one-year-old pictures to be something special.
So one afternoon I stopped at the drug store and picked up some black and white film. I’d taken a photography class in high school and I thought… maybe I could do this myself?
So I sat her little sassy one-year-old hiney on the floor in front of the fireplace, gave her a flower to hold [which ended up in her mouth] and had myself a little afternoon photo-shoot with my girl.
It was fun but something still ached in me that my daughter wouldn’t have these beautiful one-year-old pictures, like a most of her friends would.
The next day I went to Wal-Mart to drop off the film at the one-hour film development counter.
I picked up a few things while waiting for the pictures.
When the hour was up, I went to the film counter and told the guy my name so he could get my pictures. He went through the stack of developed film and pulled out a packet and opened it up just to make sure it was mine.
While he was pulling the photos out he said, “Oh ya, I remember these, hey… I don’t tell people this very often, but these are really good.”
I tilted my head and said, “Really?”
I’m not sure if the Wal-Mart Photo people are supposed to do this, but he then pulled out a few of his favorites and told me what he liked about them. I just stood there with such a sense of relief in my soul. I couldn’t believe someone; anyone had said something I did was good.
Those words? They moved me. They gave me life.
Over the last thirteen years I’ve never forgotten them. And every time I get behind a camera, I remember them. You see, I’m not a professional photographer by any means but since that day at the Walmart photo counter, I’ve loved to take pictures. Those words that stranger offered me changed something in my life.
I haven’t done the greatest in keeping up with this #write31day challenge but today I believe one of the greatest things we can do along the way to becoming the person God designed us to be is to speak life to other people.
I don’t always do this the best; sometimes I get caught up with myself. And I don’t intentionally withhold good words from others but I do.
But you know what I love about our God? He is all about new days. And it’s a new twenty-four.
Which means today is a good day to speak life to someone, anyone.
