In the days before I became an ‘official’ father with a baby I could see and hold as opposed to feel kick his pregnant mother I wondered what the hardest part of parenting would be.
I figured it would be something obvious and hoped to never have to learn first hand about health or money issues and that my children would never be involved in anything horrible.
But I didn’t spend much time worrying about things because the population had been growing long before I started my parenting journey and I was certain it would continue after.
And I knew kids would be born and raised in far harder and more challenging situations than mine would be so statistically speaking it would be ok.
Or so I would tell myself any time nerves started to creep in.
More Than A Memory
What I didn’t count on was how technological changes might impact the world I knew and the one my children would grow up in.
My oldest was born about the time that digital photography was moving from a very expensive hobby into something everyone would use.
I didn’t know the days of 35 mm film would be disappearing and the one hour photo would be a quaint reminder of past times.
But things changed and I moved along with many of them and discovered the good and the bad.
Digital photography made it easy to eliminate bad pictures. We didn’t have to wait for film to develop to see who had closed their eyes or whether our great shot had been photobombed.
But it also came with the challenge of remembering to print photos because sometimes files could be corrupted or destroyed and than all you had was a moment that you hadn’t memorialized.
I want more than a memory. I want hard copies and prints to help back up those files.
But that can be costly which is why I like using Groupon coupons like this one for Shutterfly.
One Father’s Dream
My daughter watched me get excited about the new Star Wars movies and suggested I relax and act my age.
I laughed and told her I hope she gets this excited about something she saw when she was a kid. I said it is 40 years and I remember the little boy I used to be when I saw the first movie.
Those are the kinds of moments I hope to be lucky enough to capture and save for us to revisit years later.
She is a hair short of 13 so she doesn’t understand how fast it all goes. That is ok, I didn’t either, but I do now.
Disclosure
I have been compensated by Groupon for this post. All opinions are my own.
