When my mom died of cancer in 2002, I realized that I had very few pictures of her.  I have no idea when the last formal portrait was taken (maybe in 1982 before I left on a trip to Austria) and there were hardly any snapshots to be found.  There were a few from my wedding, but that was about it.  Despite the fact that I seemed to always have a camera in my hand from the age of 16 on, my mom really didn't want pictures, so I rarely took pictures of my parents.

   The same can pretty much be said of my in-laws, who, have also both past away.  My children will have almost no memory of them other than the stories other people tell them, or the rare picture that is found in a drawer someplace.  I have a few pictures of my maternal grandmother, and I do have a portrait taken to honor my maternal grandparents on their 40th wedding anniversary.  I  hold these as being near and dear to my heart.  I actually got married on their wedding date, and wore the necklace my grandma was wearing in that picture on the day I became a bride I was named after my grandmother, who passed away in 1998.  My maternal grandfather, with eyes so much like my own, passed away when I was 6, my memories of him are rare.

  Why do I tell you these stories?  I'm a visual person, like most people, and as I get older, I wish that there were more pictures of my family for me to hold and enjoy.  A year ago, I attended my husband's family reunion in Buffalo Center, Iowa, a town so small, that you would miss it if you blinked.  I brought my camera.  I took posed shots and more than a few casual shots.  I want everyone there (and those family members who couldn't be there with us) to have a testament to the love this family feels for each other.

   Take time to document your life, both formally and informally.  Put pictures on the wall (so that the "little one" can point at her cousin's picture and yell, "Sean!"); take snapshots to cover your fridge; document the memories of your time.  Pictures are proof that not only were you alive, but that you lived!

    One of the benefits of hiring Memories in Time Photography for you wedding is simply this.  Every wedding collection is complete with a wedding album.  I think of it at the first family heirloom.  This is something you will pass down to the future generations.  I LOVE looking at the photo albums of my relatives.  Books of thick black paper, with aged and faded corners holding the pictures in place.  I like to think of my clients, their children and grandchildren sitting on the sofa huddled around a wedding album.  No one's going to huddle around a flash drive. you lived!