Growing up I always remember my dad with a video camera taking in every moment of birthday parties, Christmases, family vacations at the beach, and special performances. Our family didn't document our lives everyday. We only recorded the special moments that we appreciate looking back on. Several times my family has had a "home movie night" where we pull out all the old VHS's and watch our little faces light up in a game of peek-a-boo or show off our famous dance moves at Grandmother's house. And together as we laugh and cry, we are reminded how precious family is. One of my favorite things to do is clean my room, which is a really odd thing for me to say since I am actually quite messy and lazy. But I like to think of this "cleaning" more as exploring. After one of these adventures, my room usually ends up messier than it was in the first place, but I am usually left much happier. As I fish through my room, I always find little items that would seem worthless to anyone else but me. I personally treasure the little tokens because once I hold it or look at it, the memory comes flooding back. I get the same feeling when looking at old pictures and remembering each story behind them, but I find taking an abundance of selfies is pointless. I literally see myself everyday. I'm not someone who constantly takes pictures of every detail of my life, but I do like to take pictures of the big moments so I will remember them. I have found over the past few years that I remember the moment more vividly when I'm not focused on the memory through a screen, so I take less photos so I can remember it in my brain instead of on my phone. The majority of my pictures consist of big trips, my sister and my dog.
I take a lot of pictures of trips because I ultimately want to remember the trip, but I don't spend all my time taking pictures. Some of my favorite pictures to look back at are taken at the beach because everyone looks so tan and I look like a flaming tomato. But everyone is always so happy and having fun in my family. I also really enjoy my pictures of the little kids on mission trips that I have gotten to share Jesus with and have an impact on their lives. Those are really important to me because I might never see them in person again, but I can actually look at their face while I pray for them.
I keep most of the pictures of my sister because I don't get to see her everyday because she is away at college. She is my best friend and my role model, so I love taking pictures with her. We also enjoy recording videos of us singing together because sister's voices blend perfectly to create beautiful music. I also have a bunch of pictures of my Golden Retriever, Sadie. I have appreciated those photos more than ever because she is living with my aunt in another city, so I rarely get to see her. Overall I don't take pictures of stuff I see everyday, so instead I only keep photos that carry importance and special memories that bring back happiness.
