frame it. {Project 52}

This picture arrived in my inbox last Sunday just as Autumn posted this week's Project 52 theme: frame it.

This is my mom. We're practically twins.

OK, on the outside, I received much more of my dad's Chinese genes than her Scandinavian ones, but on the inside {and I've been told in our mannerisms} we are very much the same. Different, but the same.

She is one of the smartest, funniest, and bravest human beings on the planet. I love that she's my mom. In a world where mother/daughter relationships are often broken at worst or complicated at best, I know her presence is one of my life's greatest gifts.

When I was a little girl, my mom bought me this a plaque that said, "A daughter is a little girl who grows up to be your friend." I remember she made me promise that I would.

Every year on my birthday, without fail, she tells me the story of my birthday {33 years ago, things we're getting pretty interesting...}.

As a kid, she was present. The details fade away as I grow older, but when I think of my childhood I have an overwhelming sense that she was there. Whenever I doubt my own mothering skills, I remember that fact.

Through my own years as a mother, she has saved me in countless ways and watching her invest in my kids does my heart good.

She delights in me, supports me, celebrates me, listens to me, laughs with me.

She gets me.

My brother snapped this photo while we were on vacation earlier this month while all 12 of us waited, Braverman-style, to watch my oldest nephew meet some new dolphin friends.

In the age of digital photography, we often take 10 pictures just to get the one. Sometimes we miss the moment because we're so busy trying to capture it. I love this photo because it was a one-shot wonder. A quick, spontaneous snap when we weren't expecting it. No time to fix our hair {the make-up boat set sail the day vacation started} or adjust our posture. No time to politely decline.

Just us. My mama and me.

I think I'll frame it.

Pop over to Charis Images and see what makes Autumn's heart say frame it.