Hello and Happy Tuesday!
I started reading Joshua Becker’s book The More of Less yesterday and the book got me inspired again to clean up a bit. I am into minimalism and read a plethora of books on that topic. For me, it feels good not to have too much stuff. I cleaned my son’s room today and found my parent’s photo albums. Minimalism or not, my Mom took all of our pictures when we were kids and kept the photo albums which are damn cool. They are amazing and we need to keep those albums. My uncle took the picture above and I wore my favorite scarf mom gave me. While cleaning up, I also found a little box of un-albumed photos. This box was in a closet for a long time, not hidden away but just kept in a safe spot. When I saw these pictures for the first time I was in awe. So many pictures of my parents, when they first met, my grandparents, landscapes and so much more. For some reason, those pictures never made it into a photo album. So many photos of everything in our little life that are such great memories.
I guess I always loved to read. Even the ADAC magazine way back when.
I was lost and entranced in those pictures for quite some time and in a way overwhelmed with happiness and nostalgia. I haven’t really paid too much attention to many of those pictures, even though I have seen them all. Today, I really took a closer look at them and it was amazing. It also made me realize that I have hundreds maybe thousands of pictures on my computer but a photo album is just something more nostalgic to look at. These days, we can just click on a video and watch it. Simple. Easy. But looking at all these pictures of myself today, I saw my son’s features clearly in many of them. So awesome. He makes the same face reading than I make.
Just the other day, le husband and I browsed through the videos I made for him every single day when he was stationed in Mali. Such great moments. Browsing through those pictures today made me realize that I focused so much on the love or what happened in those moments. I looked at one more photo album over dinner and told le husband so many stories on what happened that exact day. He said, “Wow, you have a story almost for every single picture”! Great stories, great memories, good times. I had the best childhood a child could possibly ask for. Hands down!
While looking at the photo albums I am realizing that most pictures were little snapshots of happy times. Happy times I spent with my parents, grandparents and my uncle. Most pictures I adore. Me smiling with my whole face and laughing so hard. Looking curious, just like my son does. Those pictures have been taken because the moment was special and to have a memory. And that is that. And sometimes I think how my son will deal with all those pictures that are mostly on my computer. Well, I do have some photo albums but these days, it is not so much about that anymore unfortunately. These times will come when he will look at those pictures in my photo albums and see a happy mom and dad and baby Joel, or even better, his birth video. Yep, le husband recorded the labor and it is so precious to us. All my son will see is love. This is what he experiences every day. Of course, not every day is happy sunshine but believe it or not, 99% of the time it is. There is just no time to waste on taking sad-face pictures or living a sad life. You only have this one shot. And that is all we have to keep in mind. All that matters.
Here, I was most likely on my way to Death Valley with a broom stick. And what’ s up with this amazing retro-wallpaper? LOVE IT!
I think it is just amazing to capture the moment. No matter how you do it. Photographed, written down and whatnot. These days, there are way too many opportunities. Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and more. Some say I don’t focus on the moment because I am standing there with my camera but this is exactly what I am doing. Focusing on the moment and of course thinking if I could blog about this later because some things are so amazing I want to share them. Many times however, I am aware of being present in my everyday life and that sometimes the camera, phone and other gadgets need to stay at home rather than trying to capture the moment.
Here are some recent pictures of my son. He has my eyes for sure.
Do you have photo albums? Did you find some at your parent’s place? Or do you have all your pictures on the computer?
1 thought on “Pictures and Thoughts on a Flashback Tuesday.”