Time Machine
You know, we get so used to technology, we forget how amazing it is. A while ago, I got a Groupon for ScanDigital, a company that scans print photos into digital format for you. I know it's easy to do, but let's face it, I have had a printer/scanner for years and never bothered. Besides, my son is getting married later this month, and I wanted to have some old photos of him in digital format, for a slide show at the reception. So I got the Groupon, and then I dug around in the desk drawer full of photos (Photo albums, you say? Those are for organized people!) and pared my collection down to the 200 or so that would be covered by the Groupon deal.
It was tough to let go of them! Envisioning a collision of a postal truck and a semi--or possibly two employees in the scanning room--I stuck a return address label on the back of each photo. But I sent them off in the mail, and a few weeks later I got back a CD with all my pictures. And now I can see them in a much larger size, on my laptop or my husband's iPad, and easily share them with my family. It's true the resolution suffers, but still, I can see the pictures pretty well. And now that my photos are digital and backed up to the cloud, I don't have to worry about losing them.
Some of them are of me, in high school and college, and some are from my sister's wedding, and my own wedding, A few few are of my parents before I was born or soon after, and there's one of my grandfather as a young man. But most of the photos are of my son and daughter when they were small. There's one of my son holding his sister for the first time, and one of my father-in-law holding my son, with my husband beside him. Looking at them truly is like using a time machine to peer at the past. Was I ever that young? And that thin! (Yes! See below for proof!) And my husband looks like he was in high school at our wedding. My daughter had curly hair for a while, and my son was blond until he was 10 or so.
The digital aspect just makes it easier; the photos themselves are the real time machine. How lucky we are to be able preserve the past as we do, especially when it holds loved ones no longer with us.
It was tough to let go of them! Envisioning a collision of a postal truck and a semi--or possibly two employees in the scanning room--I stuck a return address label on the back of each photo. But I sent them off in the mail, and a few weeks later I got back a CD with all my pictures. And now I can see them in a much larger size, on my laptop or my husband's iPad, and easily share them with my family. It's true the resolution suffers, but still, I can see the pictures pretty well. And now that my photos are digital and backed up to the cloud, I don't have to worry about losing them.
Some of them are of me, in high school and college, and some are from my sister's wedding, and my own wedding, A few few are of my parents before I was born or soon after, and there's one of my grandfather as a young man. But most of the photos are of my son and daughter when they were small. There's one of my son holding his sister for the first time, and one of my father-in-law holding my son, with my husband beside him. Looking at them truly is like using a time machine to peer at the past. Was I ever that young? And that thin! (Yes! See below for proof!) And my husband looks like he was in high school at our wedding. My daughter had curly hair for a while, and my son was blond until he was 10 or so.
The digital aspect just makes it easier; the photos themselves are the real time machine. How lucky we are to be able preserve the past as we do, especially when it holds loved ones no longer with us.