Sweet sleep, Happy dreams...

My friend took a picture of her daughter sleeping in the car the other day. We'd been at the Zoo for hours. It was hot. We were all tired and a little sticky from cotton candy, but happy. The baby looked so completely at peace, sprawled in her car seat with her arms over her head.

Babies are cute sleepers. I've taken pictures of both of my girls sleeping. As an infant often the only way Danielle would sleep was curled up on Kevin's chest like a roast chicken. Now she sleeps with our cat. I have a silly picture of Amanda sleeping with her bottom in the air. You can't even see her face, just a mass of blond curls.

When I was a child my friend's mother painted her while she was sleeping. I remember my Mom asking her why she'd painted her daughter asleep. The reponse was, "Its the only time she holds still." Having tried to sit while my father painted me I know there is a great deal of truth to that, but there was also much more behind her motivation to paint her sleeping child.

Watching someone sleep evokes a deep protective response. The sleeper is so vulnerable and trusting. You don't want to let anything disrupt that serenity; you want to preserve it. Painting or photographing it makes sense from that perspective.

Years ago my friend posted a picture of his wife asleep on the couch with their two dogs sprawled over her legs. (She looked fine, by the way - not snoring or drooling.) While she may or may not have appreciated it I understood the love that motivated it. He didn't just want to capture the memory, he wanted to preserve her contentment in some manner.