Mom always did know what was important : printed photos

Recently a friend’s mother passed away. He shared this story about printed photos on Facebook, and it brought tears to my eyes. He and his dad had gone to the bank to clean out his mom’s safety deposit box. The went expecting to find some paperwork, maybe some documents, a birth certificate perhaps. As Scotiabank describes it, “Know the things you value most are in one safe, easily accessible place.” But what they found was so much more meaningful, and although unexpected, not surprising. This woman loved her family, time with them was worth more than anything to her, I could tell this from the first time I had met her, and this story just reaffirmed it for me.

So what did they find?

When they opened the safety deposit box, they found printed photos of their family, documenting her sons’ first few years. These photos were not professional, they were not perfect, but they showed this family during the most precious years of their lives. And that, was what this mom never wanted to lose. The memories of her babies. As her youngest son said while sharing this story, “Mom always did know what was important.”

(photos from my own childhood)

Don’t forget your printed photos

In today’s digital age we have a false sense of security with our photos sometimes. The importance of backups is stronger than ever before! I can’t count how many people I hear say they lost their phone and so many photos with it, or their hard drive crashed and they lost their newborn photos. It makes me so sad. And while we are also a generation that probably indulges in a few too many photos at times, you never know what you might loose at any time. This is why printed photos are equally, if not more important to me as having digital images saved, stored, and backed up. Print at least a few photos from every stage in your child’s life. These are moment’s you can’t get back, and while some of these moment’s may seem small or insignificant, they are our history, and the documentation of years passed.