The Northern boy

This Northern boy with his great lake eyes, his tundra skin, his prairie wheat hair, his laugh like the atlantic waves, and his rosy west coast sunset cheeks. Born in a thundering Alberta storm on the 23rd of July. This boy is happy, healthy, and the absolute light of our lives. He loves the snow, he sleeps through the howling winter wind, and he's never once fussed when we stuff him into his snowsuit. This Northern boy.

This photo, to most, is just another cute picture of another cute Canadian baby. They aren't exactly wrong-- this is a pretty remarkably cute little Canadian baby if I do say so myself. To me, however, this is not JUST a photo of a cute baby. This picture depicts a hero of sorts, a symbol of joy, a symbol of change, learning, and love. The story behind this photo is the key. It's the story of how these deep blue eyes gleaming beneath that little Canada toque made me love winter again.

I'm a new mom, a first time mom, and pregnancy wasn't easy. After almost a year of sickness, depression, pain, complications, I thought, "no matter what, having him out can't be as bad as having him in" and I was right! My mental and physical health improved greatly once I had this amazing little boy here in my arms, and this was largely due to our daily walks and the snap shots of this baby I began to capture on these walks.

Day by day, the photos of our walks captured the ever growing essence of my son's curiosity, his zest for life. I captured this photo November 20th, 2019, just 3 days shy of him being 4 months old. So many things were changing about this little boy every single day: he was beginning to laugh, to roll over, to grab at things, to nap better (thank god), and to really look around on our walks. Our walks of course had definitely changed; no more t shirts and cold drinks in the stroller's cup holder, the sound of the ice against the plastic cup lulling him to sleep. No more grass and crunchy leaves, no more stroller even, as it was much too snowy to push it through. We were in snowsuit, strapped to mom's chest, rosy cheeks territory. When my son was born, I kept saying I was so glad I had a summer baby because I hated winter. I hated the cold, I hated the lack of sun, the awful roads, the inherent boredom and winter always seemed to steal my joy. I was almost afraid of what life would look like in winter without our walks, and yet when winter came, I found that I just kept on walking.

As we took this particular snowy stroll down a treed path, almost completely enveloped by hoarfrost and snow, I glanced down to the little boy strapped to my chest and saw the winter reflected in his eyes. It was as if the winter wind then whipped by and whispered to me, "try to see what he sees." I extended my iPhone 11 camera in selfie mode to capture this image, and when I looked, I saw winter in a completely new way. The cold wasn't as uninviting, the sun still shone through the clouds, the snowy path ahead didn't seem treacherous, and I was anything but bored. I didn't just have a summer baby, I had a Canadian baby; I could see the many winters to come where this rosy cheeked baby would become a red faced little boy dragging his toboggan up the hill, then sipping hot chocolate in my kitchen while his snowsuit dried. I then remembered a time where I too loved the winter and the wonder that came with it. I don't know where that wonder went to hide for all these years, but it became clear the moment I saw this image that it was back, and it lived behind those big blue eyes.

I love the way this image shows such focus on my son's face and the reflection in his eyes, yet the snow and trees behind him almost seem blurred. I have sharpened the image a bit using VSCO but otherwise this image is not edited. When looking at those eyes, those cheeks, that wonderment and curiosity, I don't see an image in need of any editing. I see new life, new love, new adventures. I see a Northern Boy.