Some Of The Best Moments Go Uncaptured
It was April Fools Day yesterday, and while I am not someone who partakes in any of the festivities, my son’s class put together a fun little prank for the kids to play on the parents after school was done. All the children giggled and joked about fish on their way out of the school, as us parents went about our busy day’s, oblivious to the inside jokes. Upon arriving home, I felt a tap on my back and realized it was just my son dishing out some random hugs, as he is prone to do. Being the amateur prankster that he is, his giggling started almost immediately and I knew something was up. I reached for my back and pulled off the paper fish, shown above, as he quickly yelled, “Happy Fools!”, not fully understanding its meaning. The laughter that ensued was infectious and heartwarming. It was one of those moments that you wish you could capture in a bottle and keep forever.
We quickly tried to get him to try it again, this time with my wife filming his reaction, before realizing that it wasn’t going to be the same the second time around. In this age of digital devices and advanced technology, we often try to capture moments as they happen, sometimes at the expense of enjoying the actual moment itself. That’s not to say that we are bad parents for wanting to capture as many moments as we can, but while I was enjoying the original moment with my son, the thought of grabbing my phone hadn’t crossed my mind and that is something I have been striving for. I may not remember that moment forever but I know that I enjoyed every second of it while it was happening and I plan on doing much more of that in the years to come.
Side note, the video we took of my son recreating the April Fools moment was actually pretty funny in itself and I’m still kind of glad we did it.
Aww. Sweet!
One of Thing 2’s very first “pranks” also involved a fish. She spent a lot of time drawing little smiling fish on small scraps of paper and hid them in various places around our home. She thought it was the best, most hilarious “April Fool’s Day” joke, ever.
I kept one. It’s taped to a tube of mascara. I just can’t toss it. She was three at the time and is now eight!
That’s a nice way to share a “prank”. See? Everyone laughed! It’s a win-win and it is possible. 😀
I’m glad you recorded your son in your mind. It’s safe there forever. 🙂
My wife and I are those parents who will keep every little thing, until we realize that we need a storage unit to keep it all. At which point, we will buy the storage unit, haha!
This is part of why I try to do my Phamily Foto Phriday – it prompts me to keep taking pictures of my kids. But video? I don’t really do much of it. Never really have. I haven’t been as good about pictures despite my best efforts recently because I’m trying to be more “present” during those moments.
My kids love watching themselves on video, so we will often just tape them making up new stories. Then we will all sit together and laugh at their hilarity.
Even though I love technology the digital age scares me sometimes. We get so caught up in our technology we forget to enjoy the moments as they are.
And as such, I have been taking less and less photos of my kids. Oops. I downloaded pictures from our old point and shoot a few months ago and I had like ten pictures for one month. Back in the old days of film that would have been enough. But that was one or two days out of one month. hehe!
My kids are also going to grow up to be JPGs (is that the saying?). I haven’t printed out pictures since my oldest was two or three. My poor youngest doesn’t even have a baby album. I’m ashamed.
We live in this weird place where you can take 300 pictures in an hour and have it still not be enough. I totally understand it because we are evolving with the times, but it’s still funny to think back to the old days of film in a camera.
I understand this. I find myself actually making a conscious effort to not take a picture or video now and just enjoy and live the moment, but it’s so hard to not want to capture every cute thing they do. They grow up so fast! 🙂
It is the hardest not to pull out the phone to snap pics! I am getting better at it but, man, it’s an internal battle.
Instead of trying to capture moments that can never be repeated, I try to focus my time on creating moments that can never be forgotten (and that’s your Hallmark moment of the day, ladies and gents).
Absolutely! Such a great post. I am guilty of trying to capture moments on camera or video so I can commit to memory…when I really should just enjoy the moment and experience it for what it is. THAT’s the important part. Moments can’t be repeated. Thanks for the reminder.
The memory probably won’t last forever but I think it feels better to enjoy it in that moment, as opposed to looking back years later and having some vague recollection of what happened that day.