telling the story

A few years ago, I started making digital photo albums for my kids for Christmas, of the previous year. I make one for each boy, and one for Curt and me. This way, I figure, the boys will have a copy to take with them as they (sob!) move on in life.

They have become a tradition in our family. The kids mention each year how much they look forward to seeing them, and during the year I find them paging through the ones I have already made to revisit those memories.

I have been busy working on the album for 2010 this month, in the hope of getting it done by Christmas. It struck me how much this is a labor of choosing how to show them, each year, what I am trying to say: I think this is a good life, and I hope you agree. Your life is full of blessings. You are loved. I hope that is enough.

Like this one I came across today, of my eldest son and his youngest brother in Maine last year:

As they navigate the rocky shores of life, I keep wanting to repeat these messages to them over and over again: Your life is full of blessings. You are loved.

I hope that is enough.