Snap Happy

Wednesday Wisdom

I was uploading the photo for Photo Saturday on the The Compassionate Friends FB page at the weekend, and the image of Evie as a toddler made me smile and sad at the same time.  The innocence in her eyes, the trust, the love that she exuded were lovely to see.  We had no idea what was coming and that brought back so many painful memories of two years ago when we were given the final diagnosis that her tumour was terminal.  I sat looking at that picture wondering how it could all happen.

Every image that I put on Facebook is tinged with sadness.  They are all a double-edged sword for me.  I love looking at pictures of her, yet at the same time, they prick my heart and I feel the loss more acutely.  We are lucky in that we have hundreds of photos of her, but sadly few if any videos, and almost no recordings of her voice.  These photos bring back the good memories for me now and make me smile, though they always follow-through with sadness that I can never take any more.  I know that many bereaved parents struggle with looking at pictures of their children, but for me I could lose myself in the albums for hours.  Saturday mornings are spent sat in bed with a coffee trawling through the portable hard drive, looking for the right image. Patsy can’t do it. She lays there waiting for me to make the decision.  Saturdays were always a laugh with Evie in between us, playing around.  Even when she was a teenager, she still enjoyed that time with us at the weekend.

For all of our friends out there with their children charging about, making a nuisance of themselves, take more photographs, take more videos, record their voice.  You can never have too many pictures.  Now that we can store thousands of photos on our phones, we don’t have the faff or cost of getting films developed and filling photo albums, there’s no excuse.  I don’t wish to be morbid, but accidents and disease don’t discriminate between rich or poor, colour, gender, sexual preference or religion. It can strike at any time, without warning, so do yourself a massive favour and get the camera out at every opportunity.  I’m glad I did.

You can never have too many photos of your kids, so snap away!