As your mom, I will always take the picture.

My phone is filled with thousands of images of your sweet face, millions of pixels that when pieced together, capture the most mundane and marvelous parts of watching you grow up.

I will neeeeeeever not jump at the chance to hold onto them, just for a little bit longer.

Because someday,

They will be all I have of you, right at this very moment.

Right at this very age, right at this exact stage.

Snapshots and memories of the little person you are now.

And truly, I can’t wait to see who are you next.

I’m so excited to meet each person you become as you grow, and love them just as fiercely, with my whole heart.

But there’s so much sadness in the inevitable truth—

That in order to say hello,

I’ll have to say goodbye first.

To each and every version of you that came before.

The tiny infant, the gangly toddler, the curious preschooler, the big little kid, and every “you” you’ll ever be after that.

So here I am, caught saying hello and goodbye to you, over and over again, for the rest of my life.

And all I have to remember from between each one . . . is the picture.

That’s why

I will ?????? take the picture.q