Now he is four. We chase our shadows around the bright green grass, like playmates we just can’t catch. We jump and dance and reach for the sky. How many more years until his fingertips reach higher than mine? Not many. Not many.
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52 Weeks of Us
It was the last day of the summer, the last day before school started back up again. And it was a nice day, the lovely British summer weather hanging on for just a little longer. So I took us out for a day at one of our favorite haunts, Blenheim Palace. And we did the things we always do there, rode the train, played in the adventure playground, sweated in the butterfly house. We put our blanket down near the lake and enjoyed a picnic, and even shared a little with a pheasant who came to check us out. And of course, there was ice cream.
One of the reasons I started taking self portraits this year was that I had the same lightbulb moment that so many other photographers have, we’re hardly ever in any pictures. And my passion for photography comes largely from my passion for documenting life and without photos of me, my stories were incomplete.
Then I had another lightbulb moment, there were hardly any photos of my son and I together doing all the things that we do. So I started making a conscious effort to get us together in the frame much more often. And this week, Thea Coughlin’s Across the Room Project inspired me. Coughlin’s project is about capturing real life and the mundane things we do together every day. Life’s not full of moments with beautiful backdrops and backlighting. It’s full of mornings spent making LEGO robots before we’re dressed and showered. Him still in his jim jams and with a little strawberry jam on his face. Me wearing a sweater marked with a pattern of holes that mysteriously appear on all of my shirts just at my waist.
This is what our life is really like.
I couldn’t resist. Highclere Castle, familiar to most as Downton Abbey, is just a 30 minute drive down the road. And as a huge fan of the show, I felt like I’d surely be letting the universe down if I failed to get there for a visit.
It was back in February when I booked the tickets for our visit, the current owners of Highclere clearly making the most of their home’s recent fame. Highclere is a private residence and only open to the public in a limited fashion.
And it was worth the trip. The fact that Downton exists and that so many of us have become engrossed in its stories only serves to make Highclere come alive. As you walk through its corridors and peek in its bedrooms you can easily imagine the lives and dramas that unfolded within its walls.
As we drove around the winding roads leaving the estate, we passed two vintage cars of the Downton era as they headed in the other direction and back toward the castle. And instantly, my mind raced to those horrible events that took place in the last moments of Season 3. Cousin Matthew, look out!!! Oh, it’s just too much.