Capturing Memories

I'm back in Berlin after a wonderful trip to the US east coast, where I met many good old friends. Travelling with one toddler ended up being miraculously easy, and driving through the Indian summer folliage was simply breathtaking. I unfortunately took only few photos, as my ancient camera fell apart. What a shame, since I love documenting my life in photos. Ever since I was a child, I have made photo albums. I continue to do so, old style, with paper photos and glue and texts. I make photo albums for all (5) of us. It takes a lot of time, patience and a lot of bookshelf space. But there is nothing that beats looking at old photos. Special ones, not the 800 digital unedited ones. My kids love sitting on the sofa, looking at old baby photos of themsleves. I hope that one day, whenever they settle into their own homes, they will occasionally pull out an album and look at all the badly cut, hastily glued in photos. And this way remeber summers with cousins, baths with siblings, first school days, funny costumes and hair styles. Mommy is very absent in their lives from this perspective, but I hope they will know that I was there, behind the camera. Not everything can or should be seen through a lens, but some memories fade so fast, it is a treasure to have them captured. Just last night, I spent hours catching up with pasting photos (they pile up so fast), and felt so happy seeing so many wonderful people whom I have had the chance to spend time with during this past half year. My favorite ending to a blog: gratitude.