I’m pretty good about passing clothes down to friends, but the one thing I can’t help but hoard is their shoes. We put shoes on our kids every day, usually the same ones, and that repetition of kneeling by their feet, our heads so close, we are almost touching, burns a memory into my mind and my heart I just adore. It’s the little things I think I’ll look back on and cherish. My children’s shoes are like little scrapbooks of so many memories of our times together.

The memory of Jocelyn’s little pink leather shoes flopping alongside John’s hips as he carried her on his back as she dozed after a full day at Disney World. Miles dancing in his new grey New Balance sneakers because he loved shoes so much when he was little. Those grey Toms that he wore the toes out of the summer he had that red balance bike. I remember buying those leather high tops for him right before we traveled to see John’s parents. His little feet sticking straight out in front of him in the big airplane seat. Jocelyn’s little sandals she wore in Puerto Rico, running in the sun, looking so precious and carefree are flat as pancakes now. I’ve been wanting to photograph my children’s shoes, hoping that I can then let go of them, knowing I’ve still captured them.

There’s nothing like holding little shoes your baby has grown out of to show you how much they have grown. So many precious memories wrapped up in those little scrapbook shoes.