printing pictures

It's been a struggle lately (forever) for me to hand pick pictures out of the many photos I have taken of my boys - to be printed for wall art or to create a beautiful book. Recently, I have chosen 7 for a wall spread, and two "school photos" for an album ledge; and it only took me 6 months. :-) One day as I was cleaning up, I came across a floral printed photo album I have from 1997.

This was given to me last year by my mother, as she was going through things from my grandmother's passing. The purple and pink beauty is filled with pictures of my grandmother and I. { cherished } I was struck by the reminder that 20 - 30 years from now, my boys are not going to be asking me to send them links to old albums (I mean, I could be wrong here - time will tell. ;-) ) - they are going to be paging through physical books, laughing, and storytelling, and what is not tangible will most likely be lost. When viewing with another person, to me there is something different about holding photos vs scrolling. And, those memories do not have to be perfectly curated in an actual book - that an old school photo album or scrapbook is just as meaningful as a published book, and a little less barrier to entry on the decision making down payment. ;-) (They certainly can be and more power to you if you're that organized!) SO. My new solution. I have begun ordering "nothing fancy" photo albums, and I'm starting to have my 4 year old caption each photo. (Once his two year old brother has added a few more words to his vocab, he'll join the party.)

Share the memories. Print your photos, and most importantly don't let the big wall or book decisions prevent you from creating priceless family heirlooms.