Pictures are not just some image on your phone, or artwork for your house. They are much more than that. My name is Liz, and I love to take pictures.
I lost a family member last week. It was a rough one. For me, and like many others, it’s not only difficult to lose someone, but also difficult to know what to say. So I don’t say anything.
What I did is scurried through my phone and Facebook to find pictures of that beloved family member to send out to my family. Seeing them in pictures reminds me of the great memories we had, whether it was at a holiday get together or just a quick stop by. Those memories make me sad, but also puts a smile on my face—I was hoping it do the same for my family members too. This is one of many reasons why I feel that pictures are so important, and to not only embrace moments, but make sure to document them too. As morbid as it seems, you want to remember your loved one faces, if they live far away, or they are getting older and you don’t want to forget them, or so future generations can learn about them. I know for me, some of my grandparents were not alive when I was born. Luckily, my family did take some pictures (not as easy as it is today), but they did it. At the time, it was for the memory, the moment—but, if it wasn’t for those photos I wouldn’t be able to picture in my mind what family members looked like, or the activities they did “back then.”
I’m not sure when it happened, or why I thought pictures were so important. To think we used to have to go to a place to get them printed out to actually SEE the picture we took! I have FOUR photo albums from freshman year of college. Yes, that’s right FOUR! Those were some good times to remember, and thank goodness social media was not around. Glad those pictures are in safe keeping at my house.
BUT, I do love randomly looking through them (and my other pictures from other years) for an appropriate #TBT, giving a birthday shout out, or wanting to give a friend a laugh—so I’ll text the pictures to them. We definitely had some good times then, and I’m glad I have those pictures to look back on, and maybe one day I’ll let my kids see SOME of them.
As a parent, my picture taking has exploded (which most of you know)! Taking a lot of pictures it’s not a new thing for me. Some people might say, “Just enjoy the experience, you’ll miss it with the phone in your face.” Luckily these days, it takes about 2 seconds to just snap a shot. Sure, a lot of my photos will make it onto social media, but some (like many others), it’s just to have for the memory. To look back on as your kids grow up and you can say, “Those were great times at your t-ball game.” Or, “That was an awesome summer at Rocky Mountain National Park.”
And sometimes you might not even be looking back at your kids, but you and your husband/wife when you first got together—and those memories of the times before kids, and why you fell in love. Sometimes when we get in our little arguments (yep, we are human), I like to look back at pictures of our wedding day, or the adventures after. I then think to myself, “This little argument we are having does not even compare to the love we have built.” I am so glad I have those pictures to boost my little memory!
Yes, I am guilty of over-posting pictures on social media. Okay, well, who cares? If you have pictures you’re proud of, and want friends and family to see—post it. If you are at a family reunion, holiday party, on vacation (do you like how I didn’t say trip?), or any other fun memorable event, do yourself a favor and take the picture. Does it mean you need to post it or send it out to the world—no. But you will be happy because one day you will need that pick me up—and remember the fun times you had. Not even that, but someone else might need that pick me up and then you would be responsible for that smile.
