Momentous Memories

My sister and I posed and grinned as big as we could. I remember the smell of the redwood trees and how they were giants that towered above us as we danced around the pond. I remember the way that our mother had matched our outfits that day: white shirts with silver sparkle snowflakes, deep blue denim skirts, and white tights. I remember how amusing it was to hear the duck quacks and how it sounded like they were laughing. I remember how our name tags read “angel” just below our names. Christmas music playing in the background was a gateway to the holiday season, our favorite time of year. I can recall the shutter of the camera lens and the photographer telling my sister and I to show off our best smiles. I remember how without even thinking we hugged each other and giggled, my head resting on hers and my protective arm around her shoulder. We were having fun and being ourselves. My sister and I posed for many photos that day, but this one is my all-time favorite because it captures a moment in our youth when we were full of pure joy and unequivocal happiness that comes rushing back every time that I look back on that memory.

“Happy Birthday” read the banner in the background as my mom, great grandma, and brother all hugged each other and smiled, capturing three generations in one photograph. Birthdays have a very special meaning in my family, but photos of those birthdays allow us to reopen the door to the fun times and memories that occured. From this photo, I can remember my aunt, uncle, little cousins, grandma, grandpa, brother, sister and great grandma singing “Happy Birthday” to my mom. I remember the cute, little smile on my mom’s face -like that of a giddy child- right before she blew out the candles. “Fabulous forty-two,” as my grandma called it, was her age this year. It was time to cut the cake. Vanilla cake with pearlescent white fondant was her choice for this year. The smell of of vanilla ice cream filled the air as it was being scooped onto pink paper plates. Everyone had eaten their cake and it was now time for presents. The crinkling of the wrapping paper brought about a sort of familiar comfort. This year she got a bouquet of flowers, seeds to plant in her garden, and a necklace in the shape of a crescent moon. The reason why birthdays are so special to my family is because they are a guarantee that new memories will be made.

“1, 2, 3, Cheese!” I can hear myself telling my future children and grandchildren. I can envision years of family photos in albums and picture frames. I can imagine retelling stories of the days those pictures were taken to my grandkids with a smile on my face. I can fantasize sitting in a chair and flipping through the pages, studying every single photograph as if it was the first time I had seen it. Pushing past the pages upon pages of memories and moments frozen in time, they start to replay themselves. I am beginning to remember the time that I couldn’t get my child to smile for that one picture. I start to notice details in pictures that I had never noticed before and I finally find that photo that I have been looking for for years. When you become older, you realize that looking through a photo album is unlocking old, forgotten memories. Me looking at these photos is taking a trip down memory lane and I can picture myself getting nostalgic and emotional. There are happy tears because these memories will forever stay frozen in time, but there are also not-so-happy tears because it’s sad to think about how quickly time passes by.