The Baby In The Picture

Isn't it strange how, when looking at a picture of yourself as a baby or young child, it feels like you are looking at a picture of a stranger? It is difficult to even feel a connection with your own baby picture. I think a person feels that way because you have no memory of the picture being taken or of that particular time in your life. The only way we know ourselves as young children is through the pictures other people took of us. When I look at this picture of myself, I don't' really know who this little girl is. Of course, I know it is me because I have been told it is. However, if someone were to show me a picture of someone who looked like this girl and I was told it was me, I would believe it, even if it wasn't me because I don't know the little girl I once was. When I look at this picture, I wonder what I was thinking, what I was feeling, and who was I? Is there anything of me at all in that little person? Why is it, that when I look at it decades later, this picture holds no memory for me at all? I have come to the conclusion this is precisely why it is so important to have photos of your children - so they will know who they once were. Although sometimes it is like looking in the eyes of a stranger, your own baby pictures tell you who you were and who you have become. Learning about the person in your baby picture . . . it's a good thing!