New [Last] Quarter!

Spring quarter has arrived.. and it didn't take its time either. I was excited to go to class today. But I don't think the excitement was from finally being done with my undergraduate. On the contrary, I will genuinely miss college and all the friends and memories I have collected over the years. Honestly, one of my biggest flaws is that I am a memory hoarder. Some people hoard newspapers, others hoard animals.. I hoard memories. I guess this is why I got into photography. It was a way for me to hold on to things that may not last forever.

Looking back, it seems a bit pointless for me to put so much effort into things that have already past, but still for some reason I really need to do it. Something inside me really wants to have that evidence that I was really there, or I really did that.

I printed out some new pictures and bought 100 clothespins (for only $1.00!). I added these pictures to the ones  I already had up in my room. Four rows of pictures looks several times more fulfilling than just two rows.

One by one I put up each picture, and each one sparked something in my brain, kind of like the scene Ratatouille, when Remy is eating the cheese and the strawberry together. In his mind all is dark, but after a bite of either the strawberry or the cheese, there is a tiny flicker of color. And then when he finally mixes the two together, an explosion of colors replaces the darkness. Each of my pictures has the same effect. Though the human brain is amazing in its ability to hold so much memory, often times our memories become dull; they lose their color. All it takes to revive that memory, is a picture.

This morning I opened my eyes to a wall of pictures. Sometimes as I go through life day to day, picture to picture, it is hard for me to see the blessings around me. But all these pictures, memories, blessings--stacked side by side reminded me of all the gifts I have been given. They give me joy and best of all hope. Then it wasn't so strange that looking back helped me to look forward.