Preserving Memories and Traditions.

looking at my scrapbooks with family...

I am sentimental. I am also a chronicler. My mum would say I chronicle because I am sentimental, but that is only part of the reason. I would say that I photograph, journal, videotape, scrapbook, and even blog because I have a poor memory. Yes, my memory is poor, yet I love memories. So, I take record of the parts of my life that are important to me. It is more important that I remember my children's first words than what I am supposed to pick up at the grocery store. Indeed, I have a chalkboard in my kitchen to remind me of the daily "to-do's", and I have my own personal "archives" to remind me of the important things.

As I write this, I have lumps of stress residing in little pockets all over the house. They are our family photos that are now numbering in the hundreds. Even worse, many are also backlogged on my computer - not forgotten, but definitely neglected - awaiting the attention they so deserve. I have bountiful scrapbooking supplies taking up residence in my scrapbooking/wrapping station, which are also collecting dust. It all makes me feel very guilty and anxious, thus making me avoid it all the more.

I did, however, make one huge stride towards protecting the most precious memories of all: our family videos. From our wedding, to the moments immediately following the births of our children and beyond, those videotapes sat languishing in their cases until yesterday. My fears of the tapes silently deteriorating, and erasing those wonderful moments forever (ten years is their shelf life), led me to pack them all up and take them to a photography store to be recorded onto DVDs. I know it will be an expensive undertaking; but those moments are priceless, and I am both relieved and excited to have gotten that ball rolling. We are all looking forward to lazy Sunday afternoons with popcorn, spent watching their childhoods unfold again before our eyes.

Speaking of eyes, I know mine will be filled with tears as I watch them. Now that they are older, their father and I find ourselves reminiscing about them as little ones. It often makes me sad that the time has passed so quickly, and I hope that I appreciated all their gifts of humour, cuddles, and toothy grins that they gave us so willingly. We, as parents, get caught up in the difficulties of raising little ones: the sleepless nights, the sicknesses, the temper tantrums, and other stresses of just raising and affording our kids. I honestly feel each stage is the best stage, but there are some I miss very much...

As I settled my daughter into bed last night, I was reminded of the importance of the traditions we have set in place as parents. She asked me to sing her a song, one of our favourites; and as I warbled out a tune that probably only she could appreciate, she beamed at me. A big, bright smile that my song didn't really deserve. I was silently starting to get a little paranoid when she explained the reason for her happiness: "It reminds me of when I was a baby, Mummy, when you sing me that song. I loved being your baby."

~Sigh~

I am going to be a mess when I watch those videos of my babies...