on deleting pictures

what’s your take on deleting pictures?

i’m usually pretty cut-throat when it comes to purging pictures. specially the ones that are blurry or off centered or not “quite right.” they seem to take up so much space on my phone and computer that i usually pick top 3 and the rest are history.

enter grace (our little lady)

i must have (like any good parent does) thousands of pictures of her…not including duplicates, but every time i get around to making space i can’t find it in me to hit the delete button. every picture regardless of how blurry, off-centered or imperfect it is… is so unique. so different. so important. they all show a different facet of her evolving personality. every angle tells a little more about who she is right now and who she is becoming. i can’t imagine forgetting that.

but i know one day i will. i know i won’t be able to remember her this little or have these moments again. so when i have them… there’s no deleting.

how she tosses around in bed when she’s not quite asleep, or how her lips pucker around her thumb for comfort, or how she curls her toes when she gets excited and how she pulls her hair from her face when it’s in her eyes. how her teeth sneak up on me through her smile and that dimple on her chin! the one that reminds me that she is mine. all the imperfection is so perfect.

how can i trash those? i captured her. and although most of the pictures won’t make my instagram or this blog, i have that moment. not in my fading and fickle memory but paused in time where papa and i can revisit it over and over again.

and when she grows up, as most kids do… i’ll always have those curls and dimples and lashes.

so bring on the hard drives and extra storage space because for me, hitting the delete button is like willingly choosing to forget that second in time.

here are a few of those “not-quite-perfect” pictures that are bursting with her personality…