of the love you gave to me.
All that I have are these
to remember you."
Jim Croce
Photos have become extremely important to me. As I age, photos become my story, my history. I can look back and see my youth, my parents, the love from and for my husband, my babies growing into strong young men. Now with these new fangled inventions of cell phones and digital cameras photos are everywhere. I can send or receive a simple smile to my husband when the day is long and I need to see a smiling face. I can see what crazy things my youngest son is doing at college though he's 400 miles away. I can see the sparkle in my oldest son's eyes as he gazes on his new girlfriend.
I see the importance of certain photos in my friend's lives. A husband who left this earth too soon, a father who meant the world to them, a son fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan, a daughter on her way down the aisle. Through the social media I come in touch with friends and family's lives and what's important to them. Words are written, true, but the pictures, the pictures speak the story.
If you were to ask me what would be the first possession I'd grab to rescue from a fire, I'd say my photos. If you asked that same question to a mother in her 30's, she'd say her phone, because her phone is the photo album of her life. No matter how they are stored, the answer is the same. With a photo we capture a moment in time when someone purposefully decided that this moment should be recorded. Whether it's a child's first smile, a bride and groom, or just a funny way your dog is acting, it's your life and you want to hold on to that moment in some way.
My husband is a great photographer. He works diligently to provide me with the best shots of all the birds and other sights we see on our vacations and even just on our walks together. But the photographs I cherish the most are the stupid selfies where we laugh at how awful we look and I fall in love all over again with the man who smiles at me in a photo.
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