Therapeutic Photography: Cat-Ice & Connections
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved taking pictures; a gift both my parents gave me. I grew up in the era of slide projectors and grainy home movies. After capturing special moments at a gathering of any kind, Mom and Dad would set up the projector, take paintings off a wall, pop some corn and invite family and friends to enjoy the show. Abundant love and laughter filled that room and our hearts. All these years later, I treasure those memories.
I’ve shown my great nieces and nephews (ages 6-15) many of my photos: frogs, rocks (we're all rockhounds) and of course themselves to name a few, and it’s like a miniature version of those home movie parties of my childhood.
The best part? They’ve begun taking pictures themselves. They can’t even wait until they see me. They’ll ask their moms to text me the photo/s.
The first time my oldest great-niece, So, sent me a photo was back in 2021, when she was in 4th grade. It was just after Thanksgiving. At our family get together, I had showed her and her sister some photos of cat-ice I had seen earlier that week. They thought it was cool looking, just as I knew they would.
Only a few days later, our world was rocked by the heart-wrenching news of a local school shooting. Before heading to school, their mom had to somehow talk about this horrific tragedy, pray with and comfort these little ones. After many tears and lots of questions, as they were leaving the house, So spotted some cat-ice in a hole on their driveway. She begged her mom for the phone to take a photo and send it to me.
I was so grateful for the photos of the cat-ice I had noticed, captured and showed to my great nieces on Thanksgiving. Because on one of the hardest days of their small lives, it gave them something to connect to--happier times, safe times, a great aunt who loves them, a sense of wonder and beauty, and even hope.
