Jess Wolfe, from the US, who is a photographer and owner of Nomadic Imagery, had her baby on her back and her three children by her side in the store, when she was approached by a woman she’d never met before.
“Sweaty, baby strapped to my back, three-year-old insisting that her belly hurts and needs her donut, six-year-old using everything in sight as a weapon and seven-year-old wanting to spend the only dollar he has,” she wrote on Facebook on 2 August.
“This. This was my trip to the grocery today.”
While Wolfe was packing away her shopping, a lady next to her asked if she had a phone that takes pictures.
“Trying not to convey my annoyance to someone else adding to the million questions that make up my day, I replied that, yes I do have one of those fancy phones,” Wolfe continued.
“She asked to take a picture of me with the kids. At the grocery. Together. She told me that she wishes she had photos of herself doing every day things with her kids.
“She validated the fact that a simple grocery trip is hard. She told me that what I do matters.
“She doesn’t miss what made the days hard, but she misses what made them sweet. I will always cherish this picture and the message that came with it.”
Wolfe’s post on her Facebook page had more than 22,000 shares and 133,000 likes. It was then reposted on the Love What Matters Facebook page where it had another 10,000 shares.
Mums whose children had grown up commented on the post wishing they had more photos of themselves when their kids were younger.
“I had four young sons and I miss these days,” one person wrote. “I loved being their mum and I still do. My youngest just turned 18 and now its time for me to spoil my grandbabies and then send them home. Haha.”
Another commented: “This made me tear up. I have three adult children now and I do miss this. I would have loved to have had a picture. This is what it’s all about - go mum.”