Only 10 Years Behind

We bought our first camera the year before Mollie was born and Mike vowed that he would be conscientious about photographing all our children--not like other families who have mostly pictures of the first children...and them only in the early years.

The picture (above) was taken by Mike on a vacation in Glacier National Park. Pretty isn't it?

Mike also developed a liking and a talent for photography. He took some classes read some books and then practiced, practiced, practiced. He has entered one or two local competitions and received honorable mentions so we can document that his skills have increased beyond just being recognized by the appreciation and gratitude of family and friends.

Unfortunately this hobby/passion has had implications for me. He truly been our family photographer and he has been there at all occasions large and small and he has taken hundreds of pictures. For many years I faithfully loaded them into photo albums, but around 1990 I was interrupted and the interruption lasted for about 18 years! I got back into it this month and am now happy to report that I am only 10 years behind. With some new photo albums from Costco I have made a dent in my backlog. 8 years worth of photos in 6 albums (approximately 600 photos to an album). Whew!

I have been spending my evenings either sliding (shoving) photographs into the appropriate slots or sliding photograph negatives into sleeves for storage. I'll be so glad when I reach the years that Mike switched over to a digital camera.

It is disconcerting to see my children visibly age as I shuffle through several years worth of pictures. Nephews and nieces fly from infancy to primary school in a week.

I'll be happy to complete this project and move on to the bags and boxes of letters that I have collected over the years. (That will take me all winter...at least.)

Here is a picture of Mike (not taken by him for once) at Glacier National Park.