A few days earlier Barbara wrote a post here about celebrating the little, everyday moments in life. My idea was something similar to begin with but then as I sat thinking, I could see certain patterns in what I document and what probably gets missed. My type A brain couldn’t help putting bullets down!

• The big, standout events  – yes of course!
• The little moments inconspicuous in their omnipresence – yes depending on what pictures I might have
• A snapshot of time – interviews with my kids – yes or just writing them a letter – yes

So what’s left???!!you might ask and a little idea started forming in my head which I thought I will share here.

If I look at our lives there seem to be themes of daily life that run like an undercurrent. There is no obvious reason to celebrate these or indeed take much note. But maybe, just maybe, there is something in there to explore. Those unmistakably scraps that so define who we are, what we do, what we like and don’t like and how the days go generally. I realised I often didn’t have photos for these nor do these necessarily have a start and end date. Without such prompts, they would never get on to my “scrap-list” But there are many ways around it and I now make a point to challenge myself to take more pictures, put my thoughts down and tell my story, my way.

Take for example my elder one’s inclination to art. She draws every day, without fail!  My house is bursting with stuff. I do want to capture it without going overboard. So I picked a little piece of art that is so her and used it to tell a story about what she likes and her personality.

In the same vein, my younger is obsessed with sunglasses, she can put one or two or tens at the same time and look at herself in the mirror giggling away! 🙂

 

My other example is the ritual my mom and my little one have almost every day. They make jigsaw puzzles – sometimes first thing in the morning, sometimes just before bed and almost all other times in between. I tell you they are obsessed!!! – having races to see who finishes first. LOL!

 

And I just want to leave with you another person who’s played a really, really important part in our lives. She is 6 years old, snorts and is a champion puddle jumper. She is a British sensation and goes by the name of Peppa Pig!!! I’m not sure we have outgrown the phase yet but I couldn’t help but document an ode to Peppa.

So next time, you are busy making pages and racing to get it all done, STOP! take a breath and think about what’s getting missed. I’m sure you’ll be able to glean out some little gems 🙂 Challenge yourself to put these down and if you need some practice, the monthly challenge I’m hosting here just does that!

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About the author: Shivani Sohal is a donner of many alter-egos. A finance professional by day in busy London, she morphs into a seemingly normal mum of two in the evenings and weekends. She is constantly found with her fingers in too many pies and juggling the metaphorical balls. That is living on the edge for her; aided by the two ankle biters and a darling hubby who define the warm and mushy for her. She is ferociously dedicated to memory keeping – almost immune to any nay-sayers (or equally disruptive crying children or annoying house fires!!!);keeping her head down and forging ahead at all times.