a picture is worth a 1000 words

i take pictures. lots of them. my children call me the paparazzi. sometimes they get mad at me because i take so many.
one day they will thank me.
years ago, when my mother was in the later stages of alzheimers, i sat down with her one day. and we went through her pictures. some people she remembered, many she didn't. the ones she remembered came with  stories. stories i had never heard before. she told me things that day that i never knew. secrets she had kept for so long. i got to know a part of my mother that she had never shown me before. pictures brought those memories out of hiding. we both knew i was losing her and she gifted me her memories.

everyone deserves to be remembered.
everyone has a history.
have you ever gone through old albums and have a long forgotten memory spring into your head? suddenly, you are back at that place, that time, and it feels like today, not a 1000 yesterdays ago.
that is why i take alot of pictures. one day, when i am old, i will be able to look back and re-live my childrens youth, the family vacations, the birth of a grandchild, the sweet and the bittersweet.
i will remember the laughter and the tears and i will give that gift to my children.
and maybe a secret or two.