Snapshots from Daycare
April 15, 2024
Writer: Deepa Ramesh
Editor: Alena Miklosovic
To me, photographs are artifacts, for they tell stories far richer than a dozen words, and every emotion, from the briefest of smiles to the cheeriest of laughs, can be felt. However, I find that in the fleeting instants we spend with our favorite photographs, reminiscing about the past, we often forget about the presence of the person who decided to take that single second of our lives and forever ensure that it would never be lost — the photographer.
I realized this when I was in California with my grandmother over the holidays, who was eagerly perusing an old photo album from my childhood. As she gently guided my hands across the pictures, I couldn’t help but remain astonished by how many of them I had never seen before. From blowing bubbles with the friends whose faces I had forgotten to carving pumpkins for Halloween, I found myself trapped in deep thought about the little girl I once was, with floral dresses and pigtails, who was both a stranger and a long-lost friend.
Out of all the photos, my favorite was the one where I rolled in the grass with my tiny fingers clinging onto a rainbow parachute, simply because of how I smiled: carefree and sweet, with an unexpected sparkle of mischief. My toddler self stared straight into the camera with a pure, crushing sense of delight, and I couldn’t help but feel as though she was smiling at me and inviting me to share her joy with her. Is that how the photographer felt when they snapped this photo? Who was I smiling at?
Nagged by curiosity, I showed the photo to my parents, asking them for the details. They explained that it was taken at the old daycare center I used to attend. One utterly dedicated teacher was passionate about sharing each child’s experiences with their families, and almost every day, she would take a photo of the child’s daycare activities, no matter how mundane or extravagant it was. In fact, she even had her partner assist her in making multiple copies of the photos so not only the child’s parents but also their grandparents and other relatives could have the photos.
Watching my grandmother’s smile grow as she saw my old photos, I understood how these simple gestures can bring such profound joy to so many people.
Though I struggle to recall my daycare days or the identities of my former teachers, the care and dedication they poured into every child are evident in the photos scattered throughout my grandmother's album. They were the ones I was smiling at in those images.
