Pictures worth what?

I love pictures. They bring me great joy. They have the ability to capture a moment in time that will forever be frozen in place.....good or bad that moment is captured and saved. Sometimes I look back on pictures and I can barely remember the event or the reason I took them, other times I get immense joy from that stolen moment in time. It evokes such emotion in me sometimes it's almost indescribable.

I have this picture taken at my sisters wedding 2o some odd years ago and at the time I didn't even know it was taken but I found it a few years after the wedding and it brings me such joy that I can't hardly stand it. It's a picture of me dancing with my grandfather who is now gone. But we are dancing and he said something to me, I wish I could remember what it was, and I have my head thrown back in laughter and he is smiling so proudly. It's a great, unplanned picture. Those are my favorite. The unplanned pictures.

There is something to be said for posed, planned, staged pictures but the best ones in my opinion are the self portraits, the paparazzi shots or the spur of the moment OMG this will be hilarious pictures. Those moments that aren't planned yet captured in one click of a button. Worth a million to me.

I love Facebook...been obsessed with it since I discovered it...part of the reason I like it so much is people share their lives through pictures. There are people I just met or people I've know for years and don't get to see often yet I can be a part of their life through some stolen moments. I can see them at their best, worst and silliest. I could spend hours looking at peoples pictures. It gives you such a glimpse into who they are. You can see things in their eyes and expressions I don't think they even know they are sharing. You can see so much in a picture than just the flat image.

Ever been to a second hand store and sift through the old photo's? Kind of makes me sad to think that one day my prized pictures, my memories, my moments in time will lie homeless and unnecessary on a shelf someplace collecting dust. When I think about it like that it is over whelming sad to me. So for now I choose to enjoy them, I embrace them, I stare at them and think back to the moment it was snapped and how much joy that moment brought me....even if I have to change the story to fit my own denial!

What is the cost of a memory? If we could harvest them and sell them would we? Good or bad our memories are all we have of people, events or sections of time. Would we alter them if we could? Like anything else, aren't we suppose to learn and grow and extract something from these times? I wonder, if I look back over this year, would I change any of the events? Would I choose to do anything differently? If I did, would I be where I am at now or would things be different?

Does each act have a reaction? Hmm....now I have to think.