Vittoria, on Transformation. Sling Diaries, Vol VII.
The Sling Diaries, Volume VII. A photo-documentary chronicling the art of baby wearing in the lives of families around the world. Over the course of six months, Sling Diarists will create their own Sling Diary though a series of diary entries interpreting a unique theme given to them each month.
Meet all of our Sling Diarists here.
ON TRANSFORMATION
“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”
― The Little Prince
Most mornings, Brighton and I take a walk to the park by our home and each time I watch her play I just want to bottle up her wonder and innocence and preserve her forever. Every day I am amazed at her. Every day there is something new: a new discovery, a new word, a new noise, a new silly face. There is so much joy in one tiny little human, and I wonder … where does that go?
The world changes us. People change us. Experiences change us. Some for the better, some for the worse. But the little fairy kid inside of us that promised to “never grow up”, indeed grew up and has gotten a little too wound up with paying the bills and making it to dinner parties on time.
Recently, I was reflecting on my life and genuinely asking what happened to the fun, easy going, crazy tap dancing theater kid I once knew. Somewhere between graduating college and getting married, the pressures of “adulting” got the best of me and I kissed that lost girl goodbye. But, motherhood has transformed me. Where I used to be uptight, rigid, and anxious, I am now more flexible, relaxed, and well, a little less anxious.
Brighton has changed me. I see the world through different eyes and the things I thought mattered, don’t matter anymore. I am constantly searching for more and more simplicity because all I want is to enjoy every moment possible. I look at Brighton and I truly don’t want her to grow up. I want to whisk her away to the Neverland she dreams of where she will always find the greatest joy in a barking dog or riding a train or a rock she finds on the ground.
I am not who I was last year, and in some ways, I am not who I was even last month. We are all constantly growing, changing, and learning. And in many ways, that is essential to becoming who we were meant to be. Remaining the same would suggest that we are not learning, so to not grow and change would be naive and foolish. Yes, the bills must get paid, and the laundry must be done, the dinners cooked, and the tanks filled. But those people, those experiences, those life-altering moments that transform us don’t have to define us either. Somewhere in between those duties lives a little prince or princess, a lost boy or girl, ready to feel the most beautiful things in the world with all their hearts; to revel at the beauty of a silent lake in the winter; to feel joy at the sight of a balloon-laden street for a simple homegrown neighborhood parade; to squeal with delight at the sight of an ice cream cone. These are the moments we live for. The simple pleasures in life that bring us back to the joy of being a child, and transform us time and time again.
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