Scattered Pictures...

Memories,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind...

Barbara Streisand / The Way We Were

Ok, that may be the gayest song ever, with apologies to the Carpenters.  But, I love photographs.  Truly.  And, although I am much more interested in pictures of places and things than I once was, I still very much like to have people in my pictures.  While I always protest and claim to not want to be photographed, I really like to be in the shot. 

Today, for the first time, I think I realized why.  In the first place, I just plain like photography.  I understand it better now, although I am frequently frustrated that I don't have more talent for it.  Same way with basketball, but that's another story.

Plain and simple, I want to be remembered.  I want the people I have shared my life with not to forget who I am when I am gone.  And I hope those memories are good, at least to the people that matter to me.  I have no children, and never will.  It's unlikely that I will ever have a companion in my life.  So I'm left with pictures as a way to remind the small group of people to whom I have some importance that I existed.  I guess we all generally crave a bit of immortality.  I mean, what else is the appeal of the promise of the Earth's religions?  

Pictures are my immortality, such as it is.  I want some scattered pictures, some memories of the way I was once the time comes that I am gone.