Blog of the week

I have been asked this week to be the guest blogger for the FootnoteMaven's series "Friday from the Collectors" on the Shades of the Departed Blog. I was thrilled to be invited until I went back through the previous entries looking more closely for how such an article was to be written. Warning--these posts are much more enjoyable when the pressure isn't on to join this high-caliber club. Go read them now before she invites you ;-). She asked me to write about photo genealogy charts. I can only hope that what has become commonplace in my daily work will still be interesting to those of you who don't get to see it as often. We have seen some remarkable ideas come to life in that respect. I'm looking forward to sharing some of them.

FootnoteMaven has five regular columns in her blog: Photo of the Week, Twice Told Tuesday, Web Wandering Wednesday, Many Things Thursday, and Friday from the Collectors. Well written and well organized. Shades is particularly centered around photography and the FootnoteMaven's extensive photo collection. She is also the host of the relatively new Smile for the Camera--Carnival of Images. The next edition (4th) of Smile for the Camera is "My Favorite Photograph" the one you couldn't live without. After much consideration, I have picked out my photo for the carnival, but you will have to wait a little longer to see it.

I come away from my recent review of this blog with alot of emotion pertaining to the fleeting nature of life, how photographs capture something that is never to be repeated. This afternoon, my son asked what time he had been born and we pulled out the 1998 family scrapbook to make sure. It seems like just yesterday. I couldn't believe how young Kim and I looked, and how the children have grown up so fast. (Luckily I looked like Jabba the Hutt having just had a baby, so I'm not missing that too much :-). But I look at how quickly life goes and it makes me a little melancholy. I would love to hold those little babies again; luckily the boys aren't to adverse to a hug now. I've always felt that way about Motherhood. After re-reading Shades of the Departed, I feel incredibly emotional about all those beautiful pictures and people who are no more. Especially the antique photos she and others have collected whose identity has been lost. Thanks FootnoteMaven for reminding me how important these family history treasures are, and how I need to savor each moment today.