Family Photo Albums

Granny, my great Grandmother, and her family 

One of my all time favourite things will always be looking at family photos. The older the better. Family histories mixed in with the evolution of photography technology and fashion trends make for a very entertaining experience. Mom didn't really keep many photos of herself growing up, but that's probably because Grandma has them all tucked away in a giant box upstairs in her house. So my thrills for this favourite experience came from going to Grandma's house. I've always wanted to go through that box from top to bottom and I'm sure I bothered my Grandparents to death, coaxing them to go upstairs and bring something down. Sometimes Grandma would indulge me and pull out an album or a picture that told a story.

When my mom visited in October just after Rowan was born she brought my boxes of photos and momentos that I've been keeping at her house for years (until I settled down somewhere). She also brought me an album my Grandma had put together with pictures from my childhood to add to my collection. I started flipping through albums I had haphazardly put together over the years once we finally unpacked them in December. Most were meaningless. There were albums from NSYNC and Hanson concerts but there was also as my prom and many a photo from first year of university.

My first year at uni, in rez, with the girls before Holiday Dinner

As I was reliving that first year, I realized how far I'd come in my life. I could see this young, naive girl and she was so blatantly screaming both of those things. It was amusing to watch myself grow through these photos and remember how exciting, scary and fantastic it all was. But I also realized that this album was just a place to store photos. Yes, I want to keep these pictures, but I want my albums to be something I can share with others, not something I hide away in our bedroom.

So today, I've started pulling them out starting with my first year at uni. Next I'll be pulling all of the albums out of the boxes and shelves then taking out their photos. I'll sort through and create piles that include pictures of me, places and people of significance (without me in the photo). The rest I'll have to find a storage solution for or put them in the bin if they really don't say anything at all. Once everyone is sorted and organized, I'll put them into albums that tell my story, the story of Matt and I, and the story of our growing family. Hopefully, one day my kids can sit with me and go through them together, reliving those memories, telling stories, sharing laughs and life lessons. I feel like a Grandma already, but I'm ok with that.

How do you store your photos? Do you keep albums or scrapbooks? Or is everything digital?

Love, Mama

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