A walk down memory lane

First of all, Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!


I hope you are wearing your green instead of getting pinched all day. Because that is ANNOYING. Thankfully I remembered to don a bit of green. Actually, I set an alarm on my phone so I wouldn't forget. 


I'm feeling so productive today! I got my eyebrows waxed, my recent ticket dropped (the cop was just waiting for me to make a mistake, the stinker), things mailed and photos sorted--all before noon. Hastings is providing me with free Internet today, and I am working on uploading pictures so I can have actual prints in photo albums instead of digital prints on Facebook albums.


I love Facebook albums, but I really want to have at least some physical documentation of what the last 4.5 years of my life have looked like. So I got to Hastings, hauled out my external hard drive (which caused a WOW-playing computer nerd to hit on me, awesome), and sorted through every picture I have taken since college began in 2006. Which translates into thousands of pictures.

It was interesting to visit those places in my life, because each picture carried a specific memory. Some of those were funny, and some were painful. Some I wish had never happened. I know the pat answer to questions about regret always is, "well, I don't regret anything, because it brought me to where I am today."


And for the most part, that is a true statement for me. But I still can't help but wonder how my life would be different today if I had done things differently back then. But even if I had the power to change it, I am not sure I would. My life, the things I have experienced, and the people I know are priceless treasures in my eyes. And the most important things, like where I am with God and the wonderful friends in my life, are the aspects I wouldn't change at any cost. 

Looking back at those pictures also made me appreciate the candid moments in life a little bit more. Take the next photo, for example. If I remember correctly, Wil decided to sneak attack everyone by picking their nose while taking a photo. This was also the night that he hid wax fingers in every hiding place imaginable (including the ice maker).

I can't believe that I actually felt ugly or fat or stupid in any of these pictures. Even if I didn't look "picture perfect" in every shot, it captured a moment that was funny or silly. It was a real moment, and worth so much more to me now than any posed photo. So if this means I am moving into an era of life where I am more accepting of myself and more laid back, then I am all for it. I could use a bit more of that in my life.