These are the photos I want in my home. The ones that make us feel real emotions.
Growing up my parents had boxes and boxes of printed photographs of the family. From our scuba diving vacations to my first day of school. It was all there, documented and printed. My mom even had a box labeled "Geek of the Week," which was filled of embarrassing photos of me and my siblings. Each week there would be one lucky person or victim (depending on how you look at it), whose picture would be displayed on the fridge for all to see that week. You can imagine how much we loved it when our friends/boyfriends would come over and glance at the fridge to see the next awkward photo of us...
So my question today is, "What to do with our photos now that we are in this digital age?" I honestly love that I can fit all my photos on a little hard drive that sits on my desk and that I can scroll through some of my favorite memories on Instagram. I have so many photos that I can easily find with a click of my mouse. But do we just stick with digital or how do we know what images to print?
Although my family had a million photos in boxes, just like we now have on our phones and computers, the few photos we had displayed on the walls made the most impact on me and still do.
When I was really struggling through my chemotherapy treatments a year and a half ago, my older brother gifted me a beautiful photo of my parents. In the photo my mom is laughing and hugging my dad and he is looking right at the camera, smiling as if he knew this photo would freeze him in time. Since my dad passed away from cancer four years ago, I now love walking past that photo each day in my home and seeing my dad smiling at me. Some days I can hear him giving me encouragement, support or telling me to worry less.
These are the photos I want in my home. The ones that make us feel real emotions!
Since I only have a few photographs printed in my home, my goal is to print and display one more this month that makes me smile a little more. If we're on the same wave length, here are some things to think about before we choose to print or not to print. 1. What's most important to us? 2. What do we want our children to see and be inspired by? 3. Do we have any photographs displayed of our family that make us feel real emotions?
My wish is that on those hard days that come to all of us we can glance at least one photo in our home that inspires, comforts and bring us joy.