21 months
June turned 21 months old two days ago. Whenever I get frustrated that I could be doing more shooting, editing, submitting, etc. I try to stop and remind myself that I have a daughter who isn't even two and another who's four and-a-half and still over a year away from kindergarten. It's a relief in two ways: first, it takes some pressure off of myself to realize that I'm doing the best I can within a limited time frame; second, I haven't missed their childhoods--I'm in the thick of it, they're both small still, and even though time goes so fast I can hang on to June's chubby baby body and Edie's kooky little-kid observations (today she asked "why do we have such big big heads on such small necks?") for a while longer now. I'm always afraid I'm going to miss something, and yes, I can't believe in many ways my kids are as big as they are, but I have the grace of time, I haven't missed it yet--tomorrow and the next day and for a bit longer I can grasp onto knowing they're still really young. The difficult part is in recognizing this won't always be the case, and it makes me want to hold them even more tightly than I already do, every day, as often as possible.
Comments
As a parent... I can relate very well to this post. You may find though, as your children grow, and head off to school, you will get some balance back into your life... well, sort of! And then your work may really flourish.
Just keep photographing them, and if you miss a submission or an opportunity so be it. There will be others. But this is a great time to keep at it... keep making pictures, even if you can't complete it until kindergarten!