Are you in the picture?????

After a week of recuperating from Covid, I am happy to have the energy to get back to my blog.

 Many of you who are also my friends on Facebook commented on a post I had put up regarding a ten-year challenge. You were to post a picture of yourself ten years ago and then one today. I struggled to find a picture of myself ten years ago. I had a ton of pictures of all my family and none of me. I never took pictures of myself. There was a long period of time when I took no pictures of myself. I was the person behind the camera.  

Today we live in a culture of selfies. Anywhere you go, just look around and you will see someone holding up their phones taking pictures of themselves. Go out to eat and you see people taking pictures of their food. My daughters always say “the camera eats first.”

I did not take pictures because I was not happy with who I was. I did not want proof of how I looked. What you don’t see, doesn’t bother you. That might have made me feel safer then, but now I look back wishing I had more photos of that time in my life. Now with the culture, we have today, we sometimes miss the present because we are busy taking pictures instead of enjoying the experience. There is a happy medium.

My daughters took me out for my birthday this year. The picture I posted was from that special day. My daughters, friends, and family all loved that picture. Not one person said “Oh I can see your double chin” or “your belly was sticking out a bit.” All they saw was the joy in my face sharing that incredible day with my girls. Every time I look at that picture it immediately reminds me of that special day. What a shame it would be if I did not have that souvenir to remind me of it.

When we travel somewhere new, many of us buy a little something to remind us of the experience or place. What is better than a picture? A permanent memento of what we have seen or where we have gone. When we look back at those pictures, it is not about your arms being shown or that your stomach is bigger than it should be, it is about the experience, the place, or the people that you are with.

We have all heard it: a picture is worth a thousand words. I think the memories behind the photos, though, are priceless.