Toes...

What is it about toes that everybody seems to love these days? Especially baby toes. They can bring women to tears. I know this for a fact because it happened at the scrap event I attended last month. Grown women, crying at images of baby toes, while listening to Eva Cassidy's version of the song, "Time After Time". Maybe it was the simple fact that the toes had been photographed by the gifted, Tara Whitney. Maybe. But I think it has more to do with the idea of growth and change and wanting to hang onto the time that we adults realize flies by all too quickly. Maybe toes remind us of our own childhood and how we ran barefoot, carefree, as kids.
I've taken some pictures of toes on occasion. The toes pictured here are of my 3 and a half year old, Isabella. She is full of life and energy. She has begged to go to school like her grown-up brother and sister all school year. She has a sense of adventure. She loves to climb on the back of the couch and play loudly and run and jump and dance. She loves to run ahead of me in parking lots to get to wherever we are going first. She loves to push the limits and rules as far as she can sometimes.
But in this picture, she took one step onto the rock I wanted to snap a picture of her sitting on, and then she stepped back. It happened about four times. She wouldn't put both feet on the rock. She thought there might be a bug. Or it might be too scary. She held back.
I took the picture of her feet, not quite willing to take the next step. For me this picture is more than just toes. It is a picture of my Bella still being a little girl. As much as she wants to grow up and explore the world as soon as she can, she still has a lot of growing up to do. She still wants me to be there and tell her that everything is gonna be okay. To me this picture snapped the reality of just how innocent Isabella still is. Sure, she can get herself into trouble. Sure she has days she does things that need correcting. She has moments that frustrate me and test my mothering abilities. But I recognize that she is learning and growing and still has a lot of things to figure out. She has a whole lifetime ahead of her. Her destiny has yet to be determined. It starts with small steps, with me at her side.
Maybe that's why toes can bring people to tears.