Boxes of Memories

Do you have boxes of photos, or boxes of memories? My lifelong friend sent a meme over the weekend that read, “Tag the friend you have thousands of memories with, but almost no photos.”

I read it and stopped. She and I have known one another since we were five years old. She is the one who knows where all the skeletons are buried and everything else in-between.

Mentally, I began to flip through my hundreds of photo albums. I personally may have a handful of photos where she and I are together. This year, we have known one another fifty-two years! Fifty-two! How is it that we may have between us a dozen or so photos?

After my mother passed away in December of 2018, I spent months going through box after box of family photos. Recently, my sister told me that she has discovered another box of photos she moved from her storage unit. We literally have hundreds of family photos. There are photos of people that neither of us even know. We recognize that we are related in some way, but there is no one, except for our one remaining aunt, that MAY be able to tell us who these people are!

I then began to think about my friendships. All my life, I have had the most wonderful circle of friends. They are constant, loving, supportive, and there for the good and the bad. I try to never take them for granted. Good friends are not always a given. They are an honor and gift. I can only hope that I am as good a friend as they are to me. So how is it, that I do not have many photos of them???

Granted, when I was a teenager and young adult, cell phones had not yet become a thing. If you took photos, you used a camera with Kodak film that you had developed at the drugstore. When digital cameras became available, it was the biggest advancement in photography. Young people today have cell phones full of hundreds of photos. No event or trip to the store goes undocumented.

Let’s reflect on the boxes of memories for a moment. Wow! It is like I have a warehouse full of boxes that contain nothing but fabulous memories. For sure, many of the boxes are full of my childhood friend. We can sit and reminisce for hours. Those times are burned into my DNA and tell so many stories. Box after box of special moments, milestones, hard times, on and on. What a gift!

When I am in the moment, taking a photo is not on my mind. Going forward, I am going to attempt to do better, but how great that I can always pull out a box of memories and transport myself. I invite you to do the same.