Fill the Shelf




Lately I have been working on a project that I wanted to tell you about. I've been printing photos and putting them in albums for the kids. I started on it ages ago and then fell behind. The importance of it has been weighing on me, so I moved it up my priority list.

When I met my husband he had three kids who lived in another state. After their summer visits he would always have the photos printed so he could make an album for himself and send one home with them of their adventures. I continued the tradition with them.

When Monkey got old enough to look through them he wanted to know where his pictures were. I made a small album of his baby and toddler pics with the intention of continuing to print and add them as he got older. Life got in the way and I never did.

You know it's great that everyone has a camera in their pocket, but it's awful that the pictures all get lost on this SD card or that. If you really think about it, your kids have never even seen most of the photos you have taken of them.

I've always placed value on pictures from when I was a kid. They help me to remember special times from my childhood and loved ones who left us long ago. What was the one material item your mom always said she'd rescue if there was a fire? Her box of photos!

It occurred to me recently that if something happened to me and my husband, the only pictures the kids would have are the ones we already have in albums in the bookcase. Frog would have almost none at all because I stopped before he was born.

If we are going to take thousands of pictures a year, we might as well task ourselves with putting some in scrapbooks to appreciate later. If not for our sake, then for our children. I used to hate being in photos. There are only a handful of pictures of my husband and I in the first six years we were together. Then I realized that it's not about me.

One day we won't be here anymore and that's all my kids will have left of us. They certainly won't care about my uneven skin tone or my double chin. They'll remember how much I loved them and how special I made them feel.

So, take the pictures. Be in them. Put them on the shelf. Give them to your children to cherish forever.

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