This is one of my favorite pictures.  It was taken four years ago at the beach in NC.

There isn’t anything about the composition that makes it perfect.  It’s just the afternoon sunlight, the shadows, my child and the fact that this photo says so much about who he is.

He’s a loner at times but can hang with the best of them.  He’s content digging in the sand all by himself while life goes on around him.  He’s smart.  He’s creative.  He’s easy, for the most part.  He’s our second-born.

I could stare at the photo for hours remembering, like yesterday, our sweet time that year at the beach.

We go every year but as I look back I love the times when the kids were younger, content to play in the sand and look for pirate ships out at sea.  It goes by in the blink of an eye, it really does.

Yes, diapers and drool were difficult, but also sweet in it’s innocence and simplicity.  We had three in diapers when our third was born.  Life seemed difficult and hard but also simple as I think back.  Now, at age 12 there are more complications in life as he becomes a teenagers and faces more of our world, out from underneath the protective skirts of mama.

I long to go back to those diaper days with the knowledge I have now and soak up just one day of babydom.

I love you sweet boy!  You will forever be little in my heart!