If a Paci falls in the woods, but no one is there to record it, did it really happen?

My older daughter finally stopped using her pacifier this past weekend.  Most parents will understand that this is a big deal, but a few of you might understand what a truly big deal this was.  For the little girl who had to deal with moving 5 times in the last two year, the death of her Lassie-like dog, and her mommy being sick, her paci was a true pacifier, a true soothing mechanism.

The Paci was more than a soother—it was almost a part of her—like a doggie’s tail.  And like a doggie’s tail, that little ones pull to demonstrate love and mischief, all the while experimenting with social interaction, as soon as my younger daughter was old enough to sit up, she would pull on it, grabbing Big Sister’s paci right from her mouth!   I couldn’t believe her bravado.  Big sister would squeal with emotion “My Paceeeeeeeeee!” as if her crown jewels had been stolen.  And then little sister would play keep away.  This would happen all the time, and became a common part of their sleepy time routine—usually at nap time or bed time-never when I had a camera nearby.

Over the last year, my husband and I had tried everything to break my daughter of her pacifier but nothing worked.  Then last Friday evening, Green Paci disappeared. Green Paci was her last remaining paci.  There weren’t any others left, and unfortunately, as I fibbed to my daughter, stores don’t sell paci’s to kids over 3.  So Green Paci was it, and he was gone.   It honestly disappeared, (we found it a few days later under her dresser), and my daughter had to go to bed without a paci.  It was very strange, she cried a little but then fell asleep.  So, the next day, we kept our promise and headed over to the Disney store to buy a special princess doll.

That night, as we sang lullaby’s at bedtime, I looked down at my little girl, growing up so fast, lying so sweetly without her paci and I realized “Oh No! Stop the presses! I had never gotten video of her sister stealing her paci!!!”

My heart started racing.  What should I do?  “Quick,” I thought,” I’ll just give her back the paci one last time, and have my little one grab the paci, so I can film it!”  But I knew this would be a horrific idea with extremely negative consequences.   Then the guilt and regret started coming over me in waves.  How could I not have captured this special exchange between my two daughters on video??!!!

In a time where we take pictures of everything—where we literally photograph our food and post it on social media—how could I be so remiss as to not capture this!  I thought about my exploding iPhoto library—maxing out at 400Gigs.  I have so much silly, useless stuff on there (as well as important stuff) yet no video of my youngest stealing her sister’s paci resulting in a Daytime Emmy Award-winning cry.  So, as I sat there in bed, stroking my daughters’ heads and singing another rendition of Twinkle Twinkle, I couldn’t help but wonder…Do our massive media libraries water-down our events and experiences?  If a paci falls in the woods and no one’s there to record it, did it really happen?  Or perhaps the sound is now made louder and more special because it has to be committed to oral and/or written history?  Yes, I like this idea, I’ll go with that!

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HI! I’m a Shana, self-proclaimed Media Mixologist, wife, and mom to two little girls. I love to mix up cocktails of crafts, recipes, wellness, family and business with just the right amount of sparkle to help you shine everyday. So, grab a glass, and let’s celebrate the cocktail of life!