DAY 588

in {and out} Week 23: Sweet

My mother loves candies. I remember her telling me countless times along my childhood: come on girl, let´s sweeten life a bit!. Back then sugar wasn't considered a poison and my mother enjoyed sweet foods without regrets (she still does). But I was not sweet-toothed, so this is not one of the pleasures we have shared.

Regardless of this, when I was taking this photo the last time I visited her, I got lost in memories related to this topic. This is not strange, I am still waiting to see my dear mom refusing a candy at least once. On the other hand, her love for chocolate is legendary and has generated many anecdotes throughout the years that are already part of our family story.

However, among those memories, I  also found some that are not related to her fondness for these treats, to the wonderful cups of hot chocolate she usually prepared or to the candies she made with melted sugar (which was beautifully brittle once cool), but are -even so- an inseparable part of my childhood.

I remembered her telling me: Look how beautiful!, while she was holding a simple piece of crystalline sugar. Look how precious!, while she was showing me the wrapper of a filled-chocolate. Look how charming!, while she was caressing a can of biscuits. Look how lovely!, while she was contemplating a box of fine chocolates... or a bottle of perfume or a embroidered handkerchief or a strawberry or the section of a mandarin orange or the petal of a flower or a piece of fabric.

Look!. What an amazing verb!. What an impressive advice and wonderful training!. I had never thought about it that way, I had never thought that it was a powerful lesson when indeed it was.

I don´t know exactly why this photo made me change my mind regarding this issue. Maybe it happened because early in the morning, after giving my mother the bag of striped candies, she placed one of them on her hand's palm, looked at me and said: Look, how pretty!...  and I realized that her simple gesture was the quintessence of beauty’s appreciation.


This entry is part of a project I am developing with my friend Montse Gallardo. We'll share a photo every week during 2015. Her photos will be always taken outside and my photos will be indoor shots only. We have created a Facebook page: In and Out. 52 weeks where you can see all the photos of the project.