Your life begins behind the hospital doors. Two people can't hold in their tears because of you.
But don't worry, these are tears of joy. The people are incredibly happy that you're born
because they are your parents. You don't remember those times,
but for them, it was one of the most beautiful... and the most difficult periods.
Lullabies, mother’s milk, squeaky toys, a baby cot... The fastest and sweetest sleep. Relatives
and family friends come to visit and look at you with adoration. The first few months pass like a
flash for you. In the future, you won't remember this time, but your parents will never forget it.
They get up every night to calm you down, dress you in the best clothes, walk with you in the park
every day, change diapers, feed you healthy and delicious food, fall into bed exhausted,
and... get up again because you're crying in the middle of the night. Days turn into weeks,
weeks into months, and then you're one year old. You don't cry so much anymore,
your vision allows you to see better and you begin to learn about the world around you.
You decide which toys are boring and which are your favorite. You understand
that a large window into a wonderful fantasy world is called a TV. You distinguish words,
understand their meaning, and even learn to pronounce some. You wonder why your parents
cry with happiness when you do this. You crawl, try to get up on your feet, fall,
and try it again. After a hundred, maybe a thousand attempts, you finally stand up straight.
You take your first steps and your parents are insanely happy again.
You have fully explored the world inside the house you live in. You know where the sweet
candies and the TV remote are, which closet is the best place to hide for playing hide-and-seek.
When you go out for a walk with your parents, you meet other children at a small playground.
You watch other parents play with them. One baby girl falls off the swing
and starts to cry. Her mom tries to calm her down.
It's incredibly interesting for you to watch how the resentment and pain on the girl's face are
replaced by calmness and joy. From this moment, you become interested in watching people's faces,
you study their emotions. In the future, it will define your life.
For the first time, mom puts a sandwich in your little backpack before you go to your
first day of school. You meet a lot of kids and get to know the feeling of awkwardness,
embarrassment, and resentment. But also, you find new friends and get the knowledge you need
for a normal life. You continue to study people's emotions, draw the faces of your
classmates in your sketchbook. Parents notice your passion and give you a simple photo camera.
Years pass, you become a photographer for the school newspaper. You make more and more friends,
and for the first time in your life, you're falling in love. You skip school for the first
time, run away from home to go to a party with friends, buy movie tickets in the last row, dance
and laugh. Hormones are raging inside you. You think the whole world doesn't understand you,
and you don't understand it. You often argue with your parents, but they still love you.
Every day you take pictures of people and plan to dedicate your life to photography. You finish high
school and go to university in another city. You no longer quarrel with your parents and only now
realize how much they gave up for your upbringing. Travel, fast food, parties till morning – you're
now the master of your life. But also, you're interested in studies. You grow as a professional,
get a part-time job in a local magazine, and save money to buy a better camera.
You graduate from university, see your parents’ tears of pride and joy. You meet them less and
less, and you start to notice how they age. It teaches you to value your precious time.
You become a famous aspiring photographer in certain circles.
Your ability to catch people's emotions attracts a major magazine. You're hired
as a full-time photographer and sent on a trip around the world.
You see the incredible beauty of our planet, the amazing ways people live in different countries.
You visit all the wonders of the world. You spend the nights both in fashionable hotels
and in tents under the open sky. You wipe the sweat from your brow
as you walk through deserts and shield your eyes against the wind as you pass through blizzards.
You see gorgeous golden palaces and little huts made of clay and mud. In the lens of your camera,
beauty and joy intermingle with cruelty and sadness. You stop seeing the world
in black and white and accept it in all its shades. You get a lot of knowledge about life
and start a blog where you share it. You get a prestigious award for your work. Your photos
are a legacy that will remain after you. But you want more. You meet the person you want
to spend the rest of your life with. For the first time in your life, you fall in love,
for real. And this feeling is very different from the one you experienced in school.
You travel together and learn something new about each other. You understand that love is
not only flowers, joy, tenderness, and hugs, but also quarrels, difficulties, and constant work
on yourself. As a result of this union, a real miracle happens. This is a new life – your child.
You watch your old parents play with your daughter. You're both happy and sad because
you see that one life is growing and the other is slowly withering away.
To spend more time with your parents, you buy them a house near your own.
You become a famous photographer, but you try to travel as little as possible
because the whole world now is in your home – crawling under the table in diapers and calling
for mama. You raise your baby girl, take a lot of pictures, and watch as time flows too fast.
You take lots of pictures of your parents too. It seems to you this is the only way to slow
down time at least a little bit. And then one day, your parents' house becomes empty.
This is one of the greatest shocks of your life. Fortunately,
you have a family to help you get through this. Your daughter is growing up and going to school.
How did it happen? Just yesterday, she was crawling around the house,
and today she is already choosing the topic of a report on world history. Watching your
daughter grow up, you don't notice how old you become. Wrinkles, the first gray hair, back ache.
You decide to go on a little trip with your family. You show your daughter the world,
but she doesn't seem very interested. She wants to be close to her friends,
she's tired of such trips. You realize she's starting her teenage years. She often fights
with you, but you still love her. And even though she thinks no one understands her,
you understand her better than anyone else, because you've been through it yourself.
The second greatest shock in your life comes when your daughter grows up and leaves your home.
You're insanely proud of her, but your heart breaks at the thought that now she will live on
her own. She chose law and you're sure she'll be one of the best lawyers in the country.
Years pass, you and your soulmate live a quiet, peaceful life.
You keep taking pictures. Your memory weakens, and photos help to restore it. Your daughter has
grown up and now she also has a family. When she comes to your house with her children,
she makes you the happiest person in the world. You want to capture this moment. The moment when
three generations of one family come together. You set the camera on a timer. You all sit on
the couch, hug each other, and look at the lens. This is the best photo of your life.
After many years, your photos are admired by people all over the world. The prestigious
photographer’s prize was named after you. You may have left this world, but you left behind
a great legacy. You've managed to stop time in your photos.