Tangible Memories

Tonight I found myself surrounded by what is slowly becoming my family, and reminded of something so simple; our families.

I am not talking simply about spending time with them, or enjoying the moments you have with them because let me be honest time is short and before you know it it’s gone. I am talking about something more important. I am talking about creating memories, real tangible memories of our families.

I am talking about the importance of memory. Tonight I sat and I listened to a conversation that started with a disagreement over the specific cut of my fiancée, Brendan, mom’s first wedding ring. A disagreement that result in a rifling of an old ceder chest to find their parents wedding album; only to decided to table the conversation until we could empty the chest completely; as it is currently overwhelming full of teddy bear and decades of lost memories. A task for anther night; I’m sure.  But it didn’t end the conversation.

We eventually ended up talking about how his mother used to dye her hair strawberry blond; which lead to her bring out an old family photo of Brendan’s folks and his older brother, Brain long before he and his middle, brother Steven were born. The first and only formal family photo, but not the last family photo.  I listen to Brendan and his dad, Jim, joke about receding hair lines, and family resemblances, and where each brother gets what genetic trait as his mother, Becky, users us into the living to show off the decades of family photos: a photo of Jim, & her on their wedding day, a family photo of Jim when he was little, a hand-colored photo of her moms wedding, and a set of engagements photo form her when parents got engaged.

Meanwhile as she shows photo after photo each containing a memory, a moment of their lives, their family history, a glimpse into their past I am reminded of the day I first met his mother. The day she pulled out all the baby photos, and showed each and every one of them to me. I remember laughing as she told me the stories of his childhood, the images of his naked butt roaming around the house wearing an over sized hat, and his dad’s boot on backwards, of course. This is his family.

Every photograph, every painting on the walls tell a story of memories long past; but forever persevered. 

So why do I tell you this because we have forgotten; it not about making memories, and spending time. But about creating a way to remember them. Creating a tangible reminder of the memories of your wedding day, the family gathering around a new baby, the first smile, and of course your last smile.

Tonight I am reminded that every time I create an album, or a physical tangible photograph of a newborn I am giving that family a memory, a tangible memory; one that will one day lead to laughter, smiles, stories and remembrance. Although I doubt there’s will sparked by something so simple as a disagreement over the cut of a wedding ring.