I love taking pictures. My computer actually is FULL because I have so many pictures on it. I have pictures of all those people I reference as "the past". They were there for all my pictures and memories, they're in all my stories. Now I've never been the kind to burn all the pictures of people after stupid fights; that's dumb. Even if you don't want the pictures now, you will someday and burning/disfiguring them won't erase the memories. Also, burning pictures is bad for the earth, but that's another story. So I keep my pictures, but I never look at them. Ya know why? Because every time I do I see their freakin' faces and I don't care about the memories
anymore. All the memories are "Yeah, but I know what's coming." It's like they're poisoning all my photographs with their smiles. Their fake, fake smiles.
Everyone has faced this problem I think. It's not a maturity issue or an "I hate you, go die!" issue, it's a "Wow I just really don't even want to see your face" issue. This is one of the ways our generation has it better. There used to be two choices, destroy the picture or don't destroy the picture. With this digital age, all our photos are online and backed up on discs, memory cards, phones and hard drives. The best thing I can come up with to do is make a copy and do this:
Remember that trip to Disney World? The one you went on with your choir full of your "best friends for life"? I remember the trip, but not the BFFL part. This reflects that.
Those times spent at the hotel's guitar shaped pool. Remember how we all went running to the piano pool and Mom tried to photograph us all running by?
Or how about the dumb things we did just walking around parks? Yeah we all stuck our heads in the stocks in the middle of magic kingdom on our way to our third time on the Haunted Mansion ride. And when the body dropped, you all screamed. Again. And when they spun you around and tilted you back you screamed. Again. You were amazed by the dancing ghosts. Again. And you all talked about the "Fred is dead, a big rock fell on his head" tombstone outside and referenced the annoying youtube kid. And laughed about whether or not a ghost would follow you all the way to Illinois, you just to your hotel.
There was that 13th birthday get together with just a few people. There was laser tag and that awesome guy that worked there helped shoot your friends because you had uneven teams. You still lost, but help from a much older, cute worker guy gave you guys enough to giggle over for the rest of the evening.
That Jonas Brothers concert the night before the first day of school? You opted for the 4 lawn seats so you could bring your friends with. There were several tears when Nick sang A Little Bit Longer.
You guys signed their tour bus. There was much talk of the "sacred" blue sharpie afterword.
How about when that old friend came back to town and you went to Wendy's with the old friend and the new one? There was sharing of old inside jokes and creating of new ones. Your mom just kept periodically taking pictures of everyone. It's a good thing everyone loved her because she takes a lot of random pictures of your friends.
Then you and said friends went to meet Ashley Greene.Your mom ordered those "Team Mike Newton" shirts Ashley loved so much. Yeah, you still have that shirt. Yeah it has Ashley's signature on it. Remember that old friend/enemy boy you've known since grade school that you saw in the line behind you? Good times.
And accidentally met Mitchel Musso, who was the sweetest guy and hugged all three of you separately and signed an insert on one of your CD's "Just in case" because you only had 2. Then after 5 minutes with you guys, still had the patience to wait while your mom changed cameras because hers wasn't working.
Yeah, okay. So I don't really go around copying pictures and putting colorful circles in place of peoples faces, but I thought it would make for interesting visuals. And it's a pretty good representation of what really happens. I laughed remembering the conversations we had all through Disney World, and my birthday party, and the concerts we went to and all the ridiculous stuff that happened at show choir rehearsals. The color blobs are perfect examples of my experience. That whole "It's not where you are it's who you're with" thing is a lie. 10 years from now there is a very real possibility you won't know who the heck you were with, but you'll remember Disney World. You'll remember the roller coasters that made you scream and performing on the dock in downtown Disney. You'll remember getting cake in your nose when someone smashed your face in it. Does it really matter who did the smashing? Does it really matter who took the video camera to show the video of the cake going up your nose to that guy you've been in love with forever? I'm honestly not even sure who took him the camera anymore, or who all was at the restaurant. (Yes, it happened at a restaurant.) The answer to all these questions is no.
Memory is a funny thing. It doesn't always stick around forever, but it can be triggered at anytime. So don't destroy the pictures. Don't completely close your mind to something that was once good. You could end up wiping out a lot more than a person's face. Just wait. And maybe, you'll be so absolutely annoyed at someone's face that you get angry every time you open your pictures. If that happens, cut their heads out; even if it's not permanent, it can help you see past who was a in a photo and see what was happening. That's what really counts.
"To my ex-bestfriends, don't know how we grew apart. To my favorite bands and singalongs in my car, to the face I see in my memory, Where are you now?" Where Are You Now -Honor Society
p.s. Just for the heck of it. I know you're wondering :P
Not my best look.
