Decide what to remember

Taking photographs has always been a fun hobby for me.  When I was in grade school, I always wanted to capture my friends and their crazy dives at the summer camp swimming pool.  It was always daunting to wait for the film to be processed to see if the shots I took matched my expectations.  Looking at those pictures now, the photos from my Kodak 126 film may be pretty pathetic, but it doesn’t dampen the fun we had or the awesome swimsuit I wore that year…

Through high school and college I only owned a camera off and on.  Some moments seemed too precious to lose, however, so I honed my memory of events and other fun times to include all of my senses.  Using this new way of cataloging things can just as easily take me back.  The lyrics to a song, the scent of a favorite perfume, or the sound of ambulance sirens in Rome can all bring a moment to mind with perfect recall.

Even though I now own a digital camera that lets me know immediately that I “got the shot”, I still collect other memorabilia along the way…  A newspaper clipping, favorite songs from a trip, the azure blue color of the water in the Caribbean.  This skill should prove useful whenever it is that I start my scrapbooking adventure that will encompass several decades of keeping stuff!

When I look at my photographs, old and new, it makes me happy to know that I have found a way to enrich my memories.  These experiences may not be what others would take away, but it is nice to know that each of us can decide what to keep (and perhaps more importantly, what to discard) from our travels or the winding road of life!