Lent Photo A Day: Child

I know the kind of image I want to post for "child"--just a shot of a pudgy little toddler hand or tiny baby feet. But given that my children are all grown and I don't know anyone with little children well enough...Of course I could always stalk little kids at the supermarket or the playground with my camera, but that isn't exactly wise in this day and age. I'd end up living at the county lockup, labelled a pedophile. So for my photo, I decided to go with symbolic rather than real.

I'd just run across these little hand-embroidered booties the other day while sorting through mementos. My grandmother was an artist with embroidery floss, and apparently made them for me when I was born. Nothing says "child" to me like tiny shoes or delicate booties--the thought of a human foot being so small it could fit in such an object seems to strike some primitive, maternal nerve in me.

I combined the booties with a sign of spring's arrival: a creamy narcissus bloom. It all resonates together in my mind: Spring. Blossom. Rebirth. Child. Hope. Lent.