I can vividly remember sitting in my car after leaving the store and
flipping through all of the photos, tossing the ones aside that were out of
focus or didn’t capture what I had originally intended; I only kept the best of the best, of course. And I always ordered duplicates, in case someone wanted a copy of their very own.
All those years, my pictures were carefully positioned in
decorative photo albums and would be pulled out from time to time to reminisce, or I would
place them in picture frames to admire and display.
But this past weekend, I got to thinking. When was the last time I actually took a photo and
then had it printed out to proudly display in
my home, like I used to do? I
mean, do they even sell picture frames anymore? ; )
This is a lost art form, don’t you agree? We can still reminisce with the photos we take today,
but it seems as if we click the button, only to then upload them directly to social media, whether it’s to
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. I’m
just as guilty about this as the next person, and if you’re a friend of mine on
any one of these venues, you know this by the obscene (but adorable!) number of pictures I post
of my four-legged friends.
I have to wonder, though.
Are we snapping pictures to say, look
at me, world, or are we snapping them for the memories they behold well beneath the surface? Which path will lead to jealousy and which will lead to humility? Are we uploading to share with the world or to boast to the world? There is such a difference, my friends.
What do you think?
Are our memories as cherished
as they used to be?
One of my most favorite things to do is to look through old photo
albums, especially from when my parents were young and my sister and I were
little kids. I can hold those precious
memories in my hands and remember back to a simpler time. I can examine the tiniest of details as I hold the photo close, such as
our bright orange couch and scalloped green carpet (it was the 70's), the cracks in the cement on our driveway, or the Strawberry Shortcake frosting on my
birthday cake. Those memories are different and more meaningful, like the difference between sending a text and listening to someone’s voice on the other end. Same concept, yet light-years away in how it makes us feel.
The holiday's are approaching and so therefore, I challenge you,
my friends, to snap those photos – YES – lots and lots of photos! But rather than posting them to social media
right away to see the response that they might receive, set your phone down for a few moments and choose to be IN the memories themselves.
And then, if you are so brave and willing, print those
pictures out and display them proudly in your homes rather than on your
computer screens. That way, when your
kids are grown, with families of their own, they won’t need your login information in order to walk down memory lane.
