The Importance of Photos

I've always been a huge photo taker. I admit, at certain times I am probably that annoying girl that takes way too many photos as if I were part of the paparazzi. But in the end, I'm left with photos that tell a story about a specific event and capture many memories and emotions in the simplest way.

And if you're like me, many of these photos end up on the computer unprinted, just waiting for the day for me to figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do with all of them! In time ...

So even though my computer is filling up with photos that I still haven't printed, I'm going to keep taking photos. And more photos. I want to hang on to these lifelong memories ... forever. Then something happens that makes me realize just how important these photos really are and how much they mean to me. Here's the story.

Last Saturday, Abby was napping and I was having some uninterrupted Mommy time. I was online shopping for Christmas, searching through hundreds of baby boy bedding sets, and catching up on Facebook. Cherry coke in hand and tv on in the background, this was a perfect afternoon. Until ... I spilled some of that soda ... right on my laptop keyboard. It wasn't a lot, just a splash really, but apparently that was all it took. Instantly my computer screen turned blue and starting making loud noises like the machine was working way too hard. I turned it off and hollered for the hubs. He took over from there ... taking my laptop apart, drying it out, and trying his best to make the thing work again.

Flashing through my head were all of the photos I have taken of Abby over the past two years and I went into hysterics. Why hadn't I taken the time to print these? Why did I always put off backing up my computer? Ugh. Two years of her life gone. Just like that. And when the hubs told me it still wouldn't turn on, I was devastated. Hormonal pregnant woman kicked in and tears were flowing and I was blaming myself for the fact that my daughter wouldn't see all the wonderful pictures from her first two years of life. Horrible mother!!

On Sunday, the hard drive was restored (thanks to a good friend of ours) and photos were able to be backed up on an external hard drive. I had prayed and prayed desperately for this to happen. What a huge relief. Then later that night, the hubs tried turning on my computer one last time before we took it in for repair ... and what do you know? It turned on .... everything back to normal. So we'll see how it works in the next week or so before deciding what we should do with it, but for now all photos are safe ... backed up ... and I will never make that mistake again. There are no more excuses for not backing up what is important to me.

Since I'm rambling about photos and what they mean to me ... the photos in this post are from our photo shoot with Steve Johnston from 3five Photography. If you need a photographer in the Sarasota area, give him a shout... he's great with the kids and the pictures are beautiful! :)