One Summer's Day | Artefact Motherhood | Cambridge Documentary Family Photographer

This summer passed us by so quickly. I am sure I say this every year, but it did. 

You might not feel it, because somehow when you are young and living through life viscerally, your mind and sense of time is in the moment. However, as adults we feel like we are constantly chasing for the next moment to happen and trying to count our time backwards when that moment had moved on. 

Even if I were to live day-to-day, I would be thinking over the plan for that day from as soon as I wake. Like getting the both of you off to school on time, sending off emails for work, meal-planning, walking the dog, the chores and so on. My mind is counting not only by the minutes and hours, but also the months and years. My tired mind sometimes struggling to process it all. I am sure that contributes to that sense of time speeding up. 

Learning to ride

This year, in particular, we have been counting back days and months to when you would learn to ride a bike. I took this picture of your green bike at the beginning of the year. It looked a little forlorn in the shed waiting for a little person to be ready to take it out for a ride. 

We had hoped it would happen last summer, but the season came and went and nothing happened. We sat and hoped this summer might be the time that you were ready. Your daddy worked hard at taking you out for bike practice every weekend.

Then, soon enough, you were ready. It was a couple of months before your birthday and, your dad and I promised we would get you a new bike, because by now the green bike that your brother had passed down to you, was too small for you. Again, another sign of the changing time and how much you have grown since the beginning of the year.

Summer adventures

This summer has felt different to previous years. I think a large part was due to this new-found sense of independence. No longer were we tied to our single-car family household. We could go further afield when we wanted and where we wanted, even if it was just a trip to the local garden centre.

I wanted to carry on documenting your bike journey through this summer to mark this remarkable achievement, not because you had hit another milestone, but because it meant you could actively join in another activity. You were no longer a passenger on the back trailer, but you had your own bike seat to ride on and take yourself further afield. Like the trip to the meadow we dreamt you would cross on the bike with us this summer.

A few photos for the album:

This is part of ARTEFACT MOTHERHOOD - a project shared with other female artists who are documenting our journeys as mothers and creating memories for our children through our photographs and words.

Go next to the wonderful artist Jess Cheetham to read her post in our blog circle.