High School is known for its drama and its questionable hairstyles. My friend (let’s call her Y) took a picture every day of our senior year up until graduation. I was in her photo dumps daily, but there was a specific day when I wasn’t. Y and I got into an argument, and we weren’t on speaking terms, so I wasn’t in her daily picture dump. The next day, we were able to settle our differences and I was back in the dump once again. The picture above is one another friend took of us after we were back to feeling like ourselves. It was an important moment, when Y and I worked things out, and it’s a photo I cherish because it caught a moment of change and growth in my life and in our friendship.
A picture captures a moment we want to hold on to. So many moments in our lives pass by, then later we regret letting them go uncaptured. How many things have we forgotten because they weren’t caught in images—those digital or print reminders of who and where we once were? Often, when I pull up a picture from the past, I send it to friends who were also involved in that moment, and we reminisce about the good times and even rekindle our friendships. Pictures can capture our life stories with a click then later inspire our memories, both bad and good.
We like to think that we will live forever even if we all know there will come a time when our souls leave our bodies. For now, though, we can take advantage of all we have and hold onto the many experiences life brings us. Our years are a journey through highs and lows. Capturing and remembering them helps keep our present and future connected to our past, and it may well help us come to see ways our experiences have brought us to where we are today.
So go out today with some friends and take a picture you will talk about someday, appreciating the moment that you captured. Hold onto the you you are right now so the you you’ll be in the future can look back and smile.