Wednesday, November 11, 2009

My Philosophy on Pictures



When my son is doing something cute, I often snap a picture with my phone. Look, Tommy is petting the dog! I punch in a few numbers. Instantly it's sent to my husband, my mom, and friends in every corner of the nation. Oh, and I also send it to my e-mail, so I can immediately post it to facebook and blog about it.
In fact, when I get brand new pictures of my son, the first thing I often do is post them online. And then I keep checking back to see who has posted comments. Hey, look! Somebody I worked a summer job with in high school "likes" my picture! My friend's neighbor who I met once at a bachelorette party thinks he's cute! Instant gratification! Instant acceptance! I have an adorable child.


But you know what I miss? Photo albums. The kind from the 70s with big orange flowers on a navy background. The yellow-toned pictures (why was everything in the 70s yellow?) of my childhood used to stick to the pages. Now they just sort of slide to the bottom of the plastic pages. I used to crawl into my mom's lap or climb up next to my grandma, and ask them to tell me about the pictures. What will I do now? Pull Tommy up next to the computer screen?
And let's get back to the cell phone I use to snap those instant pictures. I would imagine, like most kids, my son will have one by the time he's 12. If a girl (!!!) wants to call him, she'll dial his cell phone. I can remember in 8th grade, sitting with my sweaty hand on the receiver, heart pounding. Working up the courage to dial the numbers I'd had memorized for weeks (not simply programmed into my phone). Then, once I did it, dealing with a parent, or even worse, an older sibling, answering the phone. "DANNY, it's for you!!! It's a GIII-RLL!" It makes me sad my son will never hear the phone ring and excitedly wonder who it is, instead of seeing the name and number right on the screen.
So as I get ready to post my next batch of Tommy pictures online for all the word to see, I make sure I print a few out, and press them in an album.
These are the ones I treasure the most.

3 comments:

  1. Prints do rock. I really do try and print my favs out and put them in an album. I love scrapbooking and can't look back at my albums enough.
    I have a great picture of me and you at Pat O's I need to scan in and post.
    It's great!

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  2. Dee is the from the outing where we took my sister and got her hand grenades after? What a fun trip! Also our Pat O's New Years adventure!!

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