Family Memories

So many important events in life go un-witnessed, and even those caught by the click of a camera have a finite life.  Pictures deteriorate, discolor and tear, get lost, are thrown away inadvertently, burn in fires, …and so with their loss, memories dissolve into nothingness.  

My wife, Scherer, was meticulous in her picture taking passion; our large collection albums of children growing up and family activities depicting the early days of our lives together is a testament to her efforts.  It is eerie but I always thought her effort bounded higher than I expected of anyone, even the most ardent of loving mothers.  It was as if she knew at an early age that one of us might die, and she wanted to insure that our early memories were secure and protected from the future. 

Sadly these albums lay frail and deteriorating, binders unglued, pictures unhinged from their housing, the pages partially torn and some beginning to dissolve like old parchment.  I am indeed afraid to open the albums and turn the pages for fear of aggravating the damage.

Interestingly and surprisingly, my daughter shares with her mother the picture taking gene!

But the digital age has certainly changed everything.  Not only do memories have the potential to survive forever, there is no limit to the number of images one can take with little to no cost, cut and paste, and limitlessly edit and “Photoshop”.   We have now progressed to an era when unlike the past, we have to worry about images that are posted for all to see, anywhere in the world, and forever.  This may be good for ourselves and families, and as we witness the foils of the young, the unstable, the attention seekers, and the self absorbed thrill seekers, this may be also very dangerous.

But my daughter has compiled a library of family pictures that anyone would be proud of.  And to add to the mammoth number of still images, as the world has now graduated to video clips to cement permanent memories, her library has expanded even further.

The picture above was one of about 30 total taken between camera and iphone attempting to get everyone to cooperate with the photographer.   Leila selected this one and I agree that she was reasonably successful in getting her young daughters and her grumpy father to cooperate.