Photos As Memory

Have you ever wondered if time or effort you put into your child really pays dividends? Or if a moment you hoped to create for them had its desired effect? I have. Have you been curious if certain moments in time are/were as important to your child as they are to you? I have.

Today I got some answers.
Our home is near a large park with a creek. Maybe it's not the nicest park, maybe it is. Coming from NYC, maybe I am easily impressed when the nearby park has more grass than concrete. No matter, we enjoy living with it nearby. At various times since Aiden was born, we make regular trips to this park. We wander through the woods, we walk and play in the creek, we visit the historical sites and even watch the local wildlife.

Here are a few pictures of such outings.

Mill Creek

Mill Creek Bridge

Hiking

Deer Watching

Aiden Watching

When I got home today, Kris ushered me into the dining room to look at a painting Aiden made.

It seems he has combined several of these memories into one scene, at least for the purposes of this presentation. Here is what he made:

From top to bottom, here is how he explained what he created:

The long brown posts with green dots are the trees.

The long brown stripe under the trees is the the bridge over mill creek.

The two black figures that appear to be on the bridge are Aiden and myself. (We are actually under the bridge, in the creek.) Aiden did clarify that he chose black because we got muddy that day.

The blue portions are the creek and ponds.

A deer can be seen near the bottom.

Grass is at the very bottom.