If you asked me my favorite part of being a dad, it's the opportunity to be so close to so many good people. With our eight kids, there's always drama of some sort. The great thing is that they all get along well and promote each other. In this big, blended family of ours, we have terrific and loving kids. It's important to stop and frame the moments that come by. No matter how busy, no matter how chaotic, the images will sweep by if you don't take a few seconds - because then the memories might just be gone. I was in a hotel with Tamara a few months back and I went in search of a Diet Coke, her beverage of choice (of course - she grew up in Georgia), and I ran across this picture in the hallway.  I wondered at the time if the girl in the photo ever saw this picture years later. Who are the girls in the background? Did she know them? Would she remember them a few decades down the road? Did her kids ever see the picture, and know their mom as a child in this way? It's one thing to capture the moments where we pose and smile pretty. It's another to capture us as we are, doing everyday activities, just being ourselves. Kids are great that way. They're less concerned about the outcome of the photo - which is why kid photos tend to be great. Adults? Hard to sometimes get them to drop their guard. We would do well to not only capture life around us, but also to let others capture life as it happens to us. Those memories are worth the reward of dropping our pretenses. | 
