The Value of Making Imperfect Photo Albums
Today I am so grateful to my 13 year old self – she who somehow stepped lightly past perfectionism and did what needed to be done. It is because of her that I have a treasure with me.
I’m remembering my dad today. As of today it’s been 19 years since he died and it happens that on this anniversary of his death I’m actually on a very fun trip with my family (doing a post for Hyatt House and so I am staying at one of their hotels) and one thing I packed that was a little out of the ordinary is a photo album that I made when I was 13 years old – it was an album I made for my dad. I brought it as I know that while I relax with my kids is also a really good opportunity to tell some stories of this grandfather they’ve never met.
I want to talk to you about that album.
I was 13. This album is Not Fancy.
In fact, the photos are not even in very good order…aside from the fact that there are baby photos at the beginning and older kid photos at the end, that’s about all I can say for sorting. Everything else is a bit of a mish mash. It’s a bit of a mess and the labeling was done with generic white address label stickers that I wrote on with limping handwriting.
You know what I love?
That I have this album.
That I get to tell my kids about their grandfather with the help of these photos.
That I look at this collection of pictures, and I don’t see a poorly put together album, I see a reminder of someone I loved and whom I miss.
I’m so dang grateful to that 13 year old self for putting together this album, and if a 13 year old can do it, so can you.
I wanted to share this with you in case you get caught up in perfectionism when you think about printing your photos. It’s So Worth It to have prints pictures of the people you love. These pictures are the basis for countless conversations and memories.
As my friend Beryl says, “The perfect photo is a printed photo.”
I am treasuring this clumsy photo album this week and it’s reminding me of the value of taking things all the way from the camera to print. I’m taking Beryl’s Embrace class this coming year for this very reason – because pictures help me connect with my family, and I want to keep up this kind of connection.
Are you missing someone this time of year? What do you do to remember people you’ve loved and lost? I’d love to read your comments about this.
Love and cheer to you,
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