I never met Aleida Franklin, but I knew she was a wonderful wife and mother and a brilliant artist. I didn't know Aleida personally, but she taught me something I will never forget.
Aleida and I came together through the scrapbooking industry. She emailed me to tell me she loved my blog and to ask if I like my short hair-cut. This lead to a series of emails which eventually led me to remark that I really loved how often she posted pictures of herself with her children on her blog. And she replied to me, "Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn't wearing make-up? Or wasn't dressed in a glamorous outfit?" Of course my answer was no.
She then responded with saying that she made it a goal to take a picture of herself with her children at least once every month. And that to use excuses about how we look, as women, is ridiculous, since our children will never care what we looked like, but only that we had physical evidence of the bond between mother and child. Read her lovely blog post about it here.
On September 8th, 2008 Aleida blogged a photo of herself, smiling, that read "Live today like there is no tomorrow." Just four days later, on September 12th, Aleida was struck by another car on her way to work and passed away, leaving 2 small children and a grieving husband. She was 41 years old. After she passed I thought of how those children must feel to have those precious photographs.
I have made it my personal goal to follow her wise suggestion and I now take photos of myself with my children....double chins, make-up free, bed-head and all.
I invite Mothers everywhere to take Aleida's Challenge. To photograph yourself with your children each and every month. And to post them here or use hashtah #ALEIDASCHALLENGE so that we can see Aleida's legacy unfolding.
