Surviving the Domestic Jungle

Last night I was speaking with my sister in law about baby pictures of my brother (her husband) and how she wanted to have some. I have a few albums in my possession and it got me thinking about how things have changed when it comes to photos. Back when we were kids, you actually had film that you had to take and get….oh my god, I dont even remember whats it called……Developed!! So you had to take your film, get it developed and there was no way to delete the bad ones before you paid to have them developed. There was no record of the pictures other than the physical picture and the negatives but who actually kept all the negatives? Basically, the pictures I have from childhood are the only copies. They get ruined, that’s it. We were discussing getting them copied and put on a disk so that we wouldn’t have to worry as they age that they will get ruined. I have a bazillion pictures of my kids on my computer and it would probably cost a $1000 to get them all developed!! I will do it one day but for now, they are on my hard drive that is being backed up daily so hopefully they are safe. I have about 6 albums I have done since my husband and I got married but I need about 20. It is such an effort to keep up with pictures which is probably why my mom just ended up putting the few pictures she did take (she is still bad about taking pictures and never remembers her camera!!!) and put them all in a box. One day I showed my kids a picture of how she looked when I was a little kid and my kids didnt even recognize her!! I was a child in the 80′s so you can imagine how my mom looked in her over the top make-up, hair, clothes and shoes! Bigger was better back then. Pulling out that box and going through it is hours of fun and laughs for me and now I share it with my kids, and as soon as I get some of my brothers baby pictures to him, he can share it with my niece. It is a real reality check that we are all officially adults when I look through those pictures with my kids.