Another Family Picture

So I have become known in my family as the lady with the camera.  Pretty much guaranteed, any family event and I will be there snapping away.  I am grateful that I come from a family that gets it, understands it and is willing to pose, position and smile for my obsession.

Pictures are so personal and special to me.  I try to stay active on social media, but with all of the new mediums constantly trying to "connect" you to the world I have found myself only drawn to a few.  Bob tried to get me all "Twittered" up a while ago.  I tried, and failed.  I just don't get the point.  Twitter is kind of like random ramblings.  Who cares what you tweeted, I want to SEE it! So when I was introduced to Instagram my whole world opened up. YES, this is how I see the world, how I communicate and how I love to communicate to others.  I just love images, moments captured in time.  They are timeless and something that 5, 10, 20 years from now I can look back on and remember.  I love pictures.

You might wonder when this picture obsession really started for me and I want to share.  Since this blog is hopefully going to be read by my daughters one day, I want them to know why their mother takes pictures......relentlessly.

It can be summed up in one word......REGRET.  Yep, that is how the picture craze started for me.  When our dear friend Armando died suddenly several years ago, all of us were asked to look for pictures that we had of him. We were BEST FRIENDS with Traci and Armando for over 4 years and do you know how many pictures I could find of him, and us? About 3, and only 1 of us all together.   I couldn't believe it.  In the years of adventures, dinners, celebrations, birthdays and fun we had never taken the time.  I was heart broken.  No, a person isn't a picture, but so many memories will be just that, my memory.  I made a new commitment to myself and my family.  I was going to take pictures and lots of them.  Never again would I feel regret for not having taken the time to take pictures.

When Grandma Fran passed away, I had no regrets.  I had so many pictures of her and our family that we had taken over the past year.  I have her with Lily, I have her with me, and I have all of us together. No regrets. She is saved permanently in my heart and forever on my lens.  I didn't miss the moments and now I have the memories.

Sweet Jessi-  Isn't she beautiful?

So here is another family picture.  My cousin Jessi and her boyfriend Josh came down from Durango and we all met them for dinner.  We don't see her that often, but every time we do I have a picture.  Beth's dad Marty was also visiting.  Marty is a cancer survivor, and I wouldn't have missed a chance to have his smiling face in our picture.  This family is special, and this moment is permanently etched.  It was just a dinner, nothing fancy, but it was a priceless.  The 3 minutes it took to take this picture was time eternally well spent.  Glad we didn't let it pass us by.