Original Date: 2/2/2008
Republished: 4/8/2020
2020: It's so hard to explain why I am taking hours a day to archive my writings. Prayerfully, next will be our pictures. This project of archiving all of our families' moments can take years. But now is the time. I always thought I would take this on well into my 70s, But I know now - far better than I knew 12 years ago - that nothing is guaranteed. As Tony Evans says, all of our days are numbered. If we are to live until we are 45, then at 44 we are old. If we are to live until 104, at 44, we are young.
2008: When I was younger, I used to love going over my grandparent's house and looking through all of their photos. There were photos of my grandparents from the ages 18 and older. Every element of their lives documented and stored. I was able to see pictures of my mother as a toddler, teenager, and pregnant with me (and Kenny and Renny). There were pictures of my grandmother happy, mad and everything in between. There was a beautiful brown oak shelf that sat in the living room, with rows of thick classy brown photo books, filled with pictures of my grandfather, who was happy in every photo- arms widespread with a huge grin to match. It felt as though through the photographs, we could see their love story transpire. We would all look at the photos (especially me and Ashley) and ask about each one: "and who is that? Is she dead?" To every picture, my grandmother had a story. Well, she passed the "picture taking gene" to my mother, and now, I follow in their footsteps. I want to document every moment, big or small so that it will stay with me FOREVER. So when I am 92, I (or my children) can tell my great-grandchildren a wonderful story.