A Photograph is a Moment

Go grab your camera and take a picture. You now have that moment captured for forever. Or for at least as long as that image lasts. How long will that moment be able to define you and remind you of how life used to be?

We are at a glorious time in history. We can take pictures in an instant and as many as we'd like. I remember when I got my first digital camera. My daughter was about two. It was so funny to watch picture taking change in that short time span. I chuckled every time I took a picture and she would quickly come up to me "Me see, me see!" So she gets to see, all of it. I take a lot of photos, from the special days to the every days. My childhood is documented in family trips, group shots, and special occasions. While my kids have photos of them making faces at the Souper Salad with Auntie. Only a couple generations ago, you may have only taken one photo in your lifetime. I mean, the first permanent photograph was created in 1826 by Nicephore Niepce and took eight hours to expose! Now it is estimated that 3.5 TRILLION photos have been taken. F-Stoppers has some interesting infographics.

Bailee and Auntie Chelle goofing off.

We capture so much, but what do we DO with it? I'm hoping to use my photos to hopefully keep my biggest fear at bay. Alzheimer's. Two of my great aunts have suffered and now my grandfather is battling this disease. When my great Aunt June started slipping we had my daughter play a "game" with her, the repeat game. That way Bailee didn't get concerned or worried about why Aunt June kept asking the same questions. I missed the signs with my grandfather. He was in the navy in the 1950's and stationed in San Diego for a short while. San Diego is where the navy sent my husband and our family for his first tour. Every phone call to grandpa led us to talking about his time in California and how nice it was. It was like a lightbulb turned on when he was diagnosed. That was why we always talked about it, because he didn't remember the last time we talked about it. The crushing moment for me came this summer when my family and I drove home to Colorado all the way from Florida for a couple weeks. We made sure to see my grandparents along the way. We talked, we laughed, we caught up. Then next day we left and he headed out of town for Father's Day, where my Mama was meeting him for the weekend. She greeted him with opens arms and he was surprised to see her, because he forgot she was coming. "Surprise!" was all she said and rolled with it. She then asked how his visit was with me. He couldn't recall me visiting in a while...even though it had just been the previous day. It crushed me. He was already so lost in his own mind. I fear losing myself that same way, stuck inside my head with no way out.

Visit with grandparents 2016

Great Papa and Great Grandma with Bailee on her 3rd birthday.

So I scrapbook. I print photos. I cherish my memories with the hopes that I can keep those memories alive, at least for my lifetime. My husband reassures me he'll sit around with me and tell the story of us through my photos. Nicholas Sparks should write a new story... The Scrapbook.

Until then, I will make my books and save my memories in my Forever account. Telling my story, the stories I know of my grandfather and my other ancestors who are already gone, so that we may not forget them and their moments.