My photo albums are tucked away in a tote at my parents’ house. I didn’t look at them often when I had them, but occasionally, something would trigger a memory, and maybe I’d pull them out and get lost in the pages.

Funny how those snapshots in time take you back to that moment. You are there again with those people. Looking at them, you remember standing there as someone snapped the camera to capture that instant.

My earliest photos don’t do that, of course. I’m probably about 3 when I start to remember.

Earliest photo memory

For example, I recall sitting on the end of the metal slide, eating peanut butter cracker sandwiches (peanut butter on one cracker smushed into a buttered cracker on the other, so the peanut butter and butter squirted out the little holes in the saltine crackers). The sun is behind me, up over the garden, so my shadow is small. I see the house, but not my grandmother, who surely was the one to take the photo. In the photos that accompany that day, I’m not eating the snack, but I remember having a snack. Maybe I did it often enough that it was trapped in my memory with the photo from that day.

This blog was prompted by a visit to Facebook. I rarely use Facebook personally, but the Messenger feature is nice for staying in touch with a fewpeople, and I post links to this blog there. It’s still widely used by so many people.

Facebook photos

Each time I post on Facebook, it’s on my home page, right next to my photos. The photos barely change because I don’t add to them, and I don’t get tagged in other people’s photos very often. (No, that’s not a hint.) One has been there a year – it was taken at Christmas last year. I wondered if I could reorder the photos, so different ones would show up, so I clicked on it. (Nope, but I think I “fixed” it by changing to a grid view – but it’s temporary. I have to change the view each time I log in. *sigh*)

Scrolling through, I saw photos primarily from my daughter, mom and friend. My mom posts compilations with childhood photos, usually for birthdays. (One of them illustrates this post.) My daughter posts goofy photos she took of me – laughing, making faces, being silly with Snapchat. (I still think I look good with a beard, just sayin’.)

It was fun to see and remember those times. Facebook photos – well most photos actually – recall good times. We don’t usually take pictures when everything is falling apart. And if we do, we don’t share them on social media. Social media tends to be the place where everything is sunshiny, and we only post the positive things, awards, accolades and good-hair days.

Theater memories

Still, it took me back to some fun memories. A number of the images were theater-related. “Shirley Valentine,” “Love, Loss and What I Wore,” “Red Herring,” “The Christmas Angel,” “A Doll’s House,” Historic Point Basse’s Whodunits, ARTigras and fundraising events. Good times with good friends.

Maybe that’s why we keep photos. Remembering the good times, going back to those moments when we shared joy with others.

Maybe I need to keep my photos visible on my Facebook page, after all.

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Be a Better Writer Tip

Weave your stories into your narrative. Personal stories always are interesting to people, even if they don’t know you personally. It helps them connect to you as a real person. In this blog, I recount a memory of a childhood photo and share my Facebook photo discovery. Both of those are things people can relate to – childhood memories and Facebook photos. Tell your own stories in your own words, and it will resonate with readers.