“The sun could get at them and warm them,
and when the rain came down it could REACH them at once,
so they began to feel very much alive.”
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
So my girl tribe gave me the gift of family pictures for my 40th birthday and almost 2 years later I finally got around to scheduling them. Our first family pictures in 10 years, unless you include awkward selfies of our faces squished together. (THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, FRIENDS!)
I know what you are thinking…but stop it…
No, I am not that Mom that takes family pictures every Christmas. I am the mom who has great intentions to be that mother…but the reality is, I am not that mother.
My husband even banned me early on from sending Christmas cards because they would get done and then stay in a stack and never get sent. But I had GREAT intentions. Doesn’t that count for something? I am currently working my way through my Great Intentions 5 Step Recovery Plan. Check it out if you too have this awful disease.
But back to the giraffe.
I didn’t want the super posed family pictures that I had seen on so many of this year’s Christmas cards, so I had Bella, our awesome photographer take some pictures of us doing what we love to do as a family: Cooking in our Kitchen.
At some point she pulled the kids out of the picture and it was just my husband and I. Then, she told him to kiss me. And in unison, our kids (10 &13) went, “Groooossss!”
Now, being married to a tall man, I tend to forget he is tall until I see his head towering over everyone in pictures. Or, when I am looking for him in a big crowd I remember because he is SO easy to spot.
I just go about my regular life, hugging and kissing on my tip toes, assuming everyone kisses like that too. It NEVER occurred to me how we looked. And I’m not even sure I realize most of the time that I am even on my tip toes. I just do it.
But now standing in our kitchen, in black and white, Bella has captured exactly How I Kiss My Giraffe.
I am forever REACHing up to him on my tippy-toes, like a baby giraffe trying to reach the sweet leaves of the tree. And he is always leaning over and wrapping around me with his gentle and loving strength.
And, just like the Sun and Rain in The Secret Garden that would REACH down to the flowers to make them feel “very much alive”, the arms of my giraffe have the same effect.
And I can’t imagine it any other way. I love my Giraffe.
LET’S CHAT ABOUT IT:
Do you have something or someone that makes you feel alive in this way? Tell us about it by commenting below!
Wishing you today the warmth of the Sun and the nourishment of the Rain,
FHB and especially Me