One summer with a borrowed video camera, we decided to record our summer's activities in little snippets. This was before the digital age, so unfortunately, I can't share the video here but I can describe a few of the scenes. It was a typical summer here in Lund with a 24th of July fiddling performance, work being done at the rodeo grounds in preparation, "Dee preesoners of Lund with shivels", spoken in a Mexican accent, Gabe smashing a beetle with a toy tractor, This video was viewed many many times. Would we remember these little vignettes of life had it not been for that video? Most definitely not.
Which is why I play this line over and over in my head from a poem that Brita introduced me to called, "Wooden Heart", by Listener. The key line in the poem is, "We only have what we remember." I have thought a lot about this statement the last few years as kids have grown and left our home. I feel like it is more and more important that I document my feelings through words and pictures so that I can save this moment in time. I am so thankful that my daughters are also documenting their lives. Those blogs will be treasured for years to come. I am also blessed to have a husband who has and is very good at documenting key moments.
The memories that I do have that have survived without video and pictures are those times when I have been truly living in the moment. If I am distracted by something else and not truly focused on the present, the memory has slipped away. Some of these fondest memories are when a stressful moment has been totally turned upside down with humor. Like the moment we discovered we, as Girl's camp leaders, were totally lost with a group of girls under our charge. Or the time a workmate and I had just filed a whole file cabinet full of files backwards. Or the time I was at an elder friend's house and he opened up his organ to play us a tune out of his big note songbook and his organ looked like the Starship Enterprise. At each of these moments, I laughed so hard I began to cry. I hope to have many of those moments in the future. As for now, here are some of my favorite memories in pictures:
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| Youngsters on their get away to Canada |
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| The lazy susan was always entertaining |
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| "Save me from that big scary ocean" My how things have changed. |
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| The Oakland temple where it all began |
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| Remember Spike? |
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| Playing in the irrigation water |
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| Little miss organizer |
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| This picture breaks my heart, but many prayers were answered |
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| Aww, "Can I come outside, guys?" |
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| Gabe in his element |
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| Home improvement |
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| Double birthday! Must have been a Grandma Harris cake |
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| Melt my heart |
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| Sisters |
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| Adventurous James |
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| Am I wearing lipstick? |
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| Grandpa and Wendy |
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| Cousins |
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| Siblings |
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| Beautiful bride |
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| Check out those shorts! |
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| Our swimming pool |
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| A favorite Christmas past time |
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| Washington D.C. |
These were just some random pictures I picked out. Maybe I will have a theme next time like music, sports, retro, awkward photos, who knows? Any requests or ideas? And if you are interested, I have another blog going documenting my running, struggles, joys, etc.
http://soyouliketorun.blogspot.com/
