Memory Visuals
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One of those interesting turns I mentioned, was to get rid of nonsense photos. Pictures of scenery, taken every time I passed a tree in bloom or drove the Blue Ridge Parkway, every picture pretty much the same, without any people, had to go. Can you believe 20 pictures of the Grand Canyon that all look alike? Pictures of people I don’t know and don’t remember ever meeting, had to go. Duplicates, blurs, poor quality, out. I had a large album for each of the 12 years with my Girl Scouts, and extra ones for our European trips. I pulled the pictures and mailed them to the girls and their mothers. I threw away train tickets, menus, maps, and ticket stubs. Then, deciding it was now manageable, I pulled all the photos out of all the albums, and pitched the cumbersome albums. I will remind you here that the albums began in 1964. We have 7 children, baptisms, confirmations, graduations, weddings, then their children. We had lovely vacations every year, Dave and I both have large extended families, some international travel, and interesting activities. There were team pictures (X 7, X 12 years each), activities, Christmas caroling parties for years, and oh yes, Christmas trees, and Christmas morning.
The laundry basket is heaping with photos. Better than albums stacked to the ceiling. Except for one thing. The photos aren’t dated. I was going to offer my sage advice to young parents here, and say, by all means take pictures. Time goes by so quickly, and one day when it’s cold and raining outside and the empty nest is lonely, you will be glad for the pictures. But my advice is to write the date on the back of every single one. You will not remember.
Then it occurred to me that this won’t be a problem for future generations. Their pictures aren’t photos; they are images, all sorted and dated and organized, and won’t take up any space on the bookshelf or in a moving van. They will always be handy to retrieve, the color won’t fade, and film and processing don’t cost money. You’ve got this, kids!