Thursday, July 12, 2007

freeze-frame

freeze-frame (frēz'frām'):
1. a still picture in the course of a movie or television film, made by stopping a reel or videotape at one desired frame.
2. a vivid, motionless scene or image.

let me give my own definition:
capturing a moment in life by stopping time for one desired frame and preserving it as a vivid, motionless scene or image.

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i am jealous. i'm jealous of most of you parents out there in blogosphere. and i'll tell you why.

most of you have younger children and are able to write about the daily happenings that involve them. or take a picture capturing a certain moment or occasion. there are so many special moments in a child's life and in the life of a family. i'm going to call these moments; freeze-frames.

for example, just today, i saw a picture of a precious little girl peeking underneath a garage door... freeze-frame. i watched a homemade video of another little girl learning how to swim under water for the first time... freeze-frame. and then another picture of a little girl on her first day of school along with her mom writing about her own personal thoughts and fears as she watches her baby go off to school... freeze-frame.

with the help of the blogging world and digital photography, you can not only save those freeze-frame moments, but then share them with friends and family. you have a record of those moments. your moment as proud parent increases with each and every view of your blog.

and i am very jealous of that. my kid's childhoods have come and gone (for the most part). i wish i had had the opportunity to blog when they were smaller. to record that first step, or them dressed up in the ballerina tutu or baseball uniform, or something they said which was funny or profound. or how it felt when they were baptized or to rush them off to the doctor with a broken arm. and even though i remember the events, my recollection of the details and how i felt during each, fades with each passing day. that saddens me more than i can say.

even though i'm jealous of you, i also applaud you and want to encourage you to keep your camera close by at all times and to write about not just the special occasions, but the everyday happenings. write about your feelings. write about your children. write about life as it unfolds each and every day.

i also want to say that even if your children are grown, or maybe you have no kids at all, you can still have freeze-frames. life is full of them... whoever you are or wherever you are. i had one this morning with my 19 year old daughter. sorry, dani - i have to share ;-)

this morning, my daughter came into my room and asked me to make my bed because she wanted to lay on it. i was about to hop in the shower so i told her just to lay on it unmade or even crawl into it. she was pretty adamant in her "no, i want you to make it." as i started to make it (it needed to be made anyways) i grumbled something like, "i don't see what difference it makes." her reply was, "i can't lay in your bed unmade because i don't know what's happened under those covers!" i laughed heartily. i guess some freeze-frames are for a more mature audience. lol.

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link of the day:
http://www.virtualsandcastle.com/

13 comments:

Dani said...

haha thank you for not sharing my coloring book and crayons in hand!

Dani said...

although I just did...oops. lol

Momma Roar said...

I never thought about how much of a scrapbook my blog may become.

By the way, I'm voting for the little girl peeking under the garage door (I know there is no votes, but I cannot resist that cute face my only daughter!) No, the swimming and off to school posts were sweet too!

Catherine said...

Thanks for reminding me why I blog.

It's true about forgetting details! Before I blogged, I tried to keep a private journal, albeit not well or regularly. There's something about having an audience that makes me put my best foot forward in journaling about my kids.

By the way, thanks for dropping by my blog! :)

Tammy said...

I don't think I've visited before, but just had to stop by after seeing you blowing bubbles at so many places that I stop by...;)
I appreciated this post...so many freeze frame moments in life- so wonderfully said!
I do still have young children, even though I am not so young- over 40- so I know how blessed I am to be able to keep such an ongoing journal of our family though blogging. Thanks for the reminder to appreciate that!
I'll be back...hope you can stop by sometime, too! :)

Amber said...

LOL! even if your children are grown, you can share freeze-frame moments.

BTW, I really wanna thank you for your comment yesterday, and in retun there is something on my blog I want to give you, come see!

God Bless,
Amber

Anonymous said...

Diana, I read one of your comments yesterday and my mind went in the same direction as yours. As our kids are not little anymore we both realize the beauty in blogging and the beauty in digital photography. I so wish I had all of this at my fingertips when my girls were little.

Someone asked me awhile back why I don't share more of my husbands photography. It's mostly saved on slides. How sad is that! We have tons of slides of the girls that are just a pain to scan.

I have to say that my kids were amazed that I could blog, hehe. I guess they didn't know I had so many thoughts in my head. I started out blogging about their childhoods and they loved it. I should go back to that as they treasured those posts. Now, ah, they don't care as much about what I write.

Great reminder to people to stop and smell the flowers along the path of life.

Lori said...

What a neat title "freeze frame".

Thanks for the reminder to capture all of the everyday moments. Which I do. I've captured way more moments since I started my blog.
It has been so much fun to blog and write and share pictures with everyone.

Julie Marsh said...

I often think about how fortunate I am to have so much media at my disposal to record my girls' childhoods. I can click away with the digital camera without thinking about flashbulbs or film. I can sit down for thirty seconds at my laptop to type up the latest funny incident. I can even shoot video and send it to my parents, only a few minutes after the action has taken place. It's pretty incredible!

Thank you for the reminder to savor these days, even when I think they may drive me to the brink!

(And those strawberries look delectable!)

Jamey said...

Your posts always make me think! Thanks for including us!! I LOVE the fact that I have been able to capture so many moments of my kids. My husband used to tell me I spent too much money on pictures--I have to say I never agreed with him. Digital does make it easier though and it's never wasted money!! We have family 900 miles away in one direction (SD) and 900 miles away in another direction (AZ). So they really appreciate being able to be a part of the day to day activities of the kids through the blog. I feel very fortunate and so do they!

jennifer said...

I am agreeing with you, we were in Germany when the boys were small and had a cheap camera. Film was pricey so we have few photos.

Stateside we took a few more. Only in the past few years have I been photo crazy. I am so happy to have been blogging so I have immediate downloads for the family!

I love freeze frame...great post

Momma Roar said...

Outside of my own blogs, Susan's is the first I've done. I tried to help someone else before, but she was so undecided and then ended up deleting her blog - fun - not!

I really enjoy making the graphics for the top of the blogs, and then just play around with the colors on my own - other than that, I don't feel like I even compete with some of those ladies who make gorgeous blogs!

Susan said...

Your daughters comment is too cute!! I share your feelings on this post. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to be blogging everything now and have a history left for my children. What a blessing this blog and blogging has become and then add the added benefit of all the wonderful blog friends. I'll get on my soap-box for blogging any day of the week!!! AND also the digital camera :o)
Just getting back and trying to catch up on my blog reads.
Susan