I scrapbook with real printed pictures. Why do I do such things? Why do I bother? After all, I have thousands of pictures in my google account, Facebook account, on my phone, at Shutterfly, Amazon, etc. My scrapbooks/photos could burn up in a fire, be damaged in a flood, etc. My children, gasp, may throw them away after I die. I may lose them because I have to move and can’t take them with me.

On the other hand, I have lost pictures and written work when a website malfunctioned or went out of business. Or my computer started “smoking” and pictures not backed up were gone forever.

I’ve recently come across pictures shared by my relatives from my maternal grandmother’s family. I copied/downloaded pictures from our family group. I have printed some of the pictures. They are part of the physical realm now, at least at my house. Someone in the family has the original pictures. When I look at those pictures, I think about how I really did not know any of my grandmother’s sisters and brothers. Most of them met me as a very young child. My grandmother and 14 siblings have passed away, the last one in 2020. All their stories have slipped away or are slipping away now.

What do we have left? Some pictures. Names written on the back of a picture. Dates.

On my Dad’s side I have a letter written by my grandmother to her daughter. I have pictures, too, but I’m not sure which are pictures of her. My grandmother died when my Dad was fifteen. I never met her or heard many stories about her. But I have this handwritten letter, which tells me a lot about her. I have a picture of this letter.

Do you print your pictures?