If you are still lucky enough to have your parents around and have a good relationship with them, I would highly recommend gifting them a Storyworth subscription for each of them.

The idea behind it is simple, but incredibly meaningful. Each week, your loved one receives a question by email inviting them to share a story from their life. At the end of the subscription, all of those stories can be compiled into a printed book.

I gifted one to each of my parents one year, and while my dad definitely embraced the prompts more enthusiastically than my mom did, both of them shared stories I likely never would have heard otherwise. There is something special about the prompts encouraging people to revisit moments they may not normally think to talk about.

Since we just celebrated Mother’s Day, I wanted to share one of the stories that stood out to me the most.

Anyone who encounters me knows it does not take long to discover that Kermit the Frog is my favorite character. I am not exactly subtle about it and have Kermit's galore in my home. My mom, on the other hand, has always been much quieter about the things she loves. Over the years, she would occasionally mention things that made gift shopping possible, but apparently she had been keeping one very important detail mostly to herself.

Her favorite Disney character is Minnie Mouse.

One of the stories she shared through Storyworth was about a road trip my parents took from Canada to Disneyland during their honeymoon. They made the trip in the summer in a car without air conditioning, which already sounds like an adventure before you even add in the usual road trip mishaps along the way. Eventually they made it to Disneyland, and one of the moments that stuck with my mom all these years later was meeting Minnie Mouse.

That story hit me harder than I expected.

Disneyland has become incredibly important to me over the years because it was the place where I really trained myself as a photographer. It became my creative classroom. Hearing that the same place carried such a meaningful memory for my mom made me feel even more connected to it.

After reading her story, I started digging through my photo archive looking for pictures of Minnie Mouse. To my surprise, I barely had any. Character meet and greets are not usually something I spend a lot of time doing. Most of my character photos happen spontaneously when one appears while I am already nearby. Most of the Minnie photos I did have also included Mickey Mouse.

The next time I visited Disney California Adventure, I made a point of finding Minnie specifically for my mom.

I found her near the fountain by Carthay Circle Restaurant dressed in a beautiful 1920s inspired outfit that matched the atmosphere of that area of the park perfectly. She happily posed for several photos, and when I got home to edit them, I made sure to give extra attention to the one I felt captured her best.

That photo meant more to me because it had a purpose beyond simply documenting a park visit. I knew exactly who I wanted to smile when she'd finally get the chance to see it.

As my parents have gotten older, gift giving has changed a lot. After downsizing through multiple moves, they really do not want more “stuff.” That makes birthdays and holidays more challenging, but it has also pushed me toward more meaningful gifts.

Photography works beautifully for that.

Calendars, note cards, prints, and photo books are all things that can be enjoyed without becoming permanent clutter. Calendars naturally expire at the end of the year. Note cards eventually get used and shared with others. They allow the image to bring joy for a while and then gracefully move on.

And now, thanks to one small story shared through Storyworth, I know there is one character I can always make an effort to photograph knowing it will brighten my mom’s day. Even more importantly, she knows those photos were taken specifically with her in mind.

That is one of the beautiful things about photography and storytelling. Sometimes they reveal connections and memories we never even realized were there.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I would love to invite you to join the Fairy Tale Photo Academy community on Skool, where we share theme park and travel photography along with the stories connected to those moments. If you have a photo or memory that reminds you of your mom, come share it with us. Sometimes the stories behind the photos become just as meaningful as the images themselves.