Snap, ratchet-ratchet-ratchet. Say cheese!

Grani-always prepared, always snappin'. That woman could whip out a camera and snap 32 pictures before you knew what was happening. My life is chronicled in photos from my Grani's camera. Goofy smiles, chunky cheeked pictures at birthdays and Christmas Eve's. Random exposures of normal days and carefully captured shots from important milestones, like my Baptism. They spark something in me when I see them: life, love and happiness. I was with her. She was with me.

My Grani probably owned stock in Eckerd's Photo Department. Capturing the moment was important to her and looking back, through boxes and boxes of photos, I understand why; time passes quickly and it's easy to forget milestones, events, people...

These days most photos are from phones. Selfies and quick captures that get shared on social media or deleted for more space on the phone. What happens 10, 20, 100 years from now? What if the internet crashes and The Cloud falls? Who and what will be remembered? How will we tell our kids about the crazy and amazing things we did if we don't have photographic proof?

Some folks are still good about having actual pictures that you can hold. I have a friend who is extraordinary about Scrapbooking. My sister-in-law is prodigious about making a Christmas book each year. I look forward to it all year long!

Do yourself, and your family, a favor. Let them take photos of you. No matter how you think you look, they see you, they know. And smile! Then, find a good service to load your pictures, and print them out or make a book. Maybe you just dump them onto the site all year long, and when you get the "Free Book" email you can drag them all over in one easy step and print one up! Heck, print several and give them as gifts. You'll be glad you did. And so will your family. What if one day that's all they have...