On Looking Back

So the big news that can now (finally) be revealed is Ralph and Cathy's 40th anniversary celebration, which took place this past Saturday. Most of you reading this blog were there, so I won't bother to go into too many details, but we wildly succeeded in keeping the party a surprise, and everyone seemed to have a good time. A special note of thanks to Jeff and Chris, without whose help the party would not have been possible.

More interesting to my topic, in prep for the party I scanned in most of Mom's old photos for use in a slideshow. It's been interesting to me to think about, comparing all of these familiar photos with the ones I now take of my family.

I didn't scan every picture, but got most of them, the total ending up somewhere north of 1,100 (not counting the digital pictures Mom and Dad have taken themselves the past few years). By comparison, I've collected over 7.700 pictures of the girls in three years.

And why wouldn't I? Digital cameras are essentially free once you make the original purchase, the only surprising thing is that the total isn't higher.

Yet another example of how technology changes our lives I suppose. I recognize a lot of these pictures from growing up, we'd occasionally look through the photo albums, but certainly not on a regular basis. Kayla and Megan see our family pictures on the TV screen saver; they're pretty decent at recognizing themselves as well. When they get a bit older they'll be able to pull them up on any one of a half dozen devices in the house. They'll find this blog, look through my Facebook, etc. How will this affect how they remember/view their childhood? Will their memories be more vivid? Will pictures lose some of their inherit value to them?