It was last January when I saw the first decade photo. I remember it well. It was of a gorgeous 27 year old who had also been a gorgeous 17 year old. No awkward photos there. Just lovely teeth, lovely hair, lovely - I mean really lovely - skin, and a cute caption. Something like "Wow - it's been a decade. So much has happened but I guess I'm holding up okay!" All of us responded positively to the beautiful perfection that was her. She also had a chin, which for some of us was perhaps the most enviable part of her photograph.
I began to see more and more decade photos, and finally I thought - "Wow! Wouldn't it be fun to find some photos and do the same?"
I would periodically set out to find the decade photos, but every time a memory would stop me. A memory from the last decade of life. A memory that didn't find its way into social media, but found its way into my mind, floating there until I gave it the laughter, joy, or tears that it deserved.
These damn decade photos - they capture a couple of seconds in time, but the moments before and after dance around them, creating an album of life that isn't easily shared.
For so many of us, these decade photos are tough. A decade ago, some had a home to go to for Christmas - now they long for their phones to buzz with a text of invitation from someone who knows they are alone. A decade ago, a grandmother could walk quickly and unassisted, conquering her eighties like a boss. Now she walks with a cane or walker, ever aware of her fragility. A decade ago, a couple pledged their lives to each other- family and friends witnessing and celebrating. Now a casket holds the body of one of them while the other lives through the unimaginable.
These damn decade photos. When we first search for them, it's a fun game. "Let's look!Let's see how the pictures differ!" The kid with braces and a god-awful haircut turns into the male model - or not. The pictures we carefully curate may be beautiful or fun but they hide much of what the decade held. For me, the longer I searched, the more i realized the moments lived in the decade were far deeper than the pictures we took.
A decade ago, I was parenting a child in middle school, a child in high school, two college students, and a young adult. Now I'm parenting 5 adults, all on their own in different cities of the world. How could I possibly find photos that captured the differences between them and now?
But I kept searching, because ultimately I wanted to see how life had changed, and how we had changed and adapted with it. ⠀
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This morning I looked back in the archives and found the long sought-after pictures. Memories and moments hidden from the one-dimensional camera lens tumbled over each other, but I pressed on.
For most parents, mingled in with the pictures are a million stories of our kids growing up and facing equal amounts of joy and pain without us able to bear witness and be a soft landing for them. They have grown up and grown on. And though we may still be very much a part of their lives, we are not going to know everything, because we aren't supposed to. ⠀
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The best we can do is embrace them when they come home, give them a soft pillow and a warm drink, and love them, love them, love them. And we can pray mercy and grace over them by the handfuls, and pray that they will have the tools to face whatever is going on in their lives. ⠀
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And then sometimes we get golden moments. Weddings, births, and reunions - visible evidence of families expanding to include partners and grandkids. And somehow the love that we have for them grows to include the extra people. It's a miracle really - this human capacity to love. A miracle of God.⠀
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Next time I see a decade photo, I'll remember that even the most beautiful picture includes a storied life of joy and pain, sometimes visible, other times invisible.
Here's to the untold stories of this past decade, the ones that never make it to social media, because they aren't supposed to. The stories we hold close to our hearts and first in our prayers. And may we always remember, we are all so much more than we appear.
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