I snapped no photos for four or five years.
I felt like the process of picture-taking got in the way of experiencing the moment. And we have albums full of landscapes... of Mammoth Mountain and forgotten vacation spots, of Hawaii and Canada, of Great Britian, Hong Kong and beyond.
And it was such a bother... getting the light just right, fussing with the focus. Buying the film, dropping off the film, remembering to pick-up the film.
I didn't miss it.
But Ron's mother passed away last summer, and we had few photos of her. We're blessed with an adorable 17-month old granddaughter who grows and changes every month. We don't see Trisha and Nino (our daughter and son-in-law) very often since they moved to Oregon. And Andrea sparkled in beauty and excitement, dressed for her first high school dance.
We recently heard that sadly, our former pastor for 10 years has Alzheimers. They kept it private for three years, but he can't read now, and has trouble remembering much.
And I realized that I was wrong.
Life is fleeting, and special moments are precious. Memories are the stuff of our lives. Gifts from God.
So we bought a nifty new digital camera (a Nikon) last month, and are suddenly on-fire photographers of our loved ones.
For the internet-savvy, the process is amazingly cool. We take the pics and upload them to my laptop. I then upload them to my Yahoo albums, for all to view. I've ordered prints from Yahoo/Target (sent to our home) and WalMart (for faster pick-up).
Ron and I now take new joy from remembering cherished times with family and friends, and sending fun photos to far-away relatives.
(Not to brag about the unusually wonderful women in our family, but........ take a gander at a shot I took last night when we took the gang out for Mexican food. From left: daughter Andrea, daughter-in-law Giovanna, granddaughter Gabriela, daughter Trisha and girlfriend Tessa.)
No comments:
Post a Comment