INNOCENCE OF CHILDHOOD

Getting ready for the spring consignment sale means weeding through those things my son has outgrown. Some items hold no great memories and then there are these PINK CAT SHOES.

It was in our final days in India (March 2014), when we purchased the shoes. HBT feet had grown a full shoe size in six weeks. We were both ready to head home. I had taken over 5,000 photographs for Eye am The Rug Industry. We Are Watching: Visual Campaign. We had meet many families who are part of the rug industry. I had collected tons of stories. HBT knew more about rugs at this point then most 2 1/2 year olds.

We were tired but had one day left. I was frantically rushing around New Delhi shopping. Shopping for my mother who was dealing with one of the hardest crisis so far in her life — her husband, my father, had emergency brain surgery. Here I was half way around the world and I needed to find joy. I choose to shop for small items that would bring great joy to my mother–to be opened slowly in the coming months, when she needed joy the most.

HBT could handle shopping only for so long. Many a times, he would ride in our Lillebaby carrier on my back. He would help select necklaces for his Grandkat, blouses for me and gifts for his cousins. Midway through the day, he said MaeMae my turn. After six weeks, we had collected almost every handicraft animal in India (or at least it seemed like it) so I thought fine, lets get you some clothing. We went to a few shops and then my son saw these pink cat shoes.

The sale staff kept saying but they are for girls. I kept saying he likes them. What made me smile and still smile, is the INNOCENCE of CHILDHOOD. My son did not see pink, he saw cats. Cute Cate shoes…At one point their were whiskers on the shoes…since pulled off. As we went to pay for them, an older Indian women in the store had seen this all transpire. She came up to me, smiled and said

Children bring joy and innocence to all of us. Your son happiness is great. You are a good parent.

After six weeks of travel, days where I though I might have failed my son, failed me– well– hearing from another about me being a good parent was like I could exhale. (Wish I words could explain it better)

So to me, these beaten up pink shoes represent a time when my son lived in pure innocence, I was a mom superhero, and of our time together in India. Our journey was many things but the simple one was a mother son’s bond.