I have a confession. I am obsessed with pictures. My husband calls it my addiction but whatever...I simply love taking them...looking at them...sharing them with people. I am not saying that's a bad thing...I'm just a little overwhelmed with pictures right now...okay very overwhelmed. It's my own fault really...it's not like I didn't know this day was coming. My youngest son is graduating from high school this weekend and I am trying to work on picture boards to display at his graduation party.
Lets just say that I do NOT have my pictures organized in any way, shape or form, other then the ones on my computer from my digital camera and that's only from the last year or two since I got my camera. The ones before then...are all stored in two big Rubbermaid containers...no rhyme or reason to any of it...what started out(many years ago) as a some what organized container of pictures still in their envelopes has turned into two containers that look like a tornado struck down and dropped a bunch of pictures into buckets!
This is NOT what I intended...these pictures were put in these containers(many years ago) in a somewhat organized manner so that when I started "scrap booking" or putting them into albums that it would be easy. My intention was to have nice books to display at my children's graduation parties and the pictures organized in such a way that making these display boards would be simple...yeah right. My eldest child graduated 8 years ago and after the grueling process of sorting and digging through pictures I swore that by the next one I would be ready...yeah right...and swore this each time I faced these pictures...it didn't happen because this is my 5Th child to graduate and of course more pictures have been added in over the years(thus the 2 buckets)and now I have a MESS!
To my defense...I am not the only one that made this big mess of pictures. My kids would dig in these pictures while looking for a certain picture through out the years. Over time they were left out of the envelopes they came in and ever so slowly mixed all together. So, yeah, I will blame my kids because the lord knows how many things they have blamed me for.
Back in the day, when my kids were growing up I had a cheap camera, there was no such a thing as digital cameras back then. So, when I got my film developed(I should say if I got them developed because many times it didn't even make it that far!), I would have a bunch of pictures that sat in envelopes because out of the whole roll of film there were probably only a few that I thought were good...but more so it was my intention to eventually put them in albums or to scrapbook them. Before putting them away I would TRY to write on the envelope or the back of the pictures so I would remember who or what the picture was of years later....yeah right.
Fast forward to the present...here I am, going through pictures that are a compilation of my whole past life but mostly the last 27 years all mixed together. Most of the pictures have no writing on them and most are not in envelopes anymore. I have been looking through pictures and honestly, some of them I am clueless about...some of them are just plain stupid...some are horrible, I mean HORRIBLE pictures and have not one clue to why I kept them...some are so random that I am thinking "what the hell was I thinking?" Each time I have gone through these pictures I have thrown some out as I have been doing this time. My husband just laughs and shakes his head at me and my mess, while muttering about my picture addiction...he is no help.
Scattered through out this sea of pictures are the pictures worth digging for...they are sweet, precious, beautiful pictures capturing my children, my loved ones, from their births, through out their growing up years to recent years. To those of you with young children, take this story of my disorganized pictures as a lesson to take care of, meaning organize your pictures while they are young and don't wait like I have. I know it's much easier when you have a digital camera but non the less, save yourself the stress later on! But, don't stop taking pictures...don't stop capturing the everyday moments because one day they will be all that you have of that time in your lives.
I have cried and laughed while viewing these pictures and the memories flood my mind and heart as I write this morning, of my littlest boy that has grown up on me. I look at these pictures of my little boy that is no longer a little boy and I cannot believe where the years went...how I want to go back and just hang on to him for awhile longer. How very thankful I am that I did take so many pictures that capture his life. As I try to capture his life to display at his party, I am sure I will cry many more tears...it will be part of my grieving...my letting go of my now young man.
1 comment:
We are fortunate in the regard that our daughter was born after we switched to digital, so from that perspective we have everything organized (which reminds me... I need to make a backup of the last couple months, just in case).
But prior to that: our courtship, first apartment, wedding, and move into our house are all on film, in slightly organized photo boxes. I tried to sort them a few years back when I was accumulating the negatives to use with a neg scanner I got, but I gave up. But at least they're in pseudo-chronological order, right?
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