Burden lifted. Project done.

 

To say that this job had been haunting me would be an understatement.

Once I went digital, after Cooper was born, one of the very first things I noticed was how much easier it was to organize my photos. No more boxes, no more worries about what to do with them...Except for the boxes of photos that I had from the 'early years'...which started out at least 4 or 5 jam-packed boxes, but I had a scanner, and I worked on them when I could. I managed to get it down to one photo box, but then that box followed me...and followed me...and followed me. It became the voice in the back of my head whenever I embarked on a new project, that I still had this 'pending' project; one that was so close to being done that I could taste it...But it was so tedious. It meant hooking up my scanner (not my primary printer, so requiring additonal set-up)and then I had to scan each photo in individually...no small feat when you factor in an OCD husband who 'needs things done' and the impulse to stop with each photo and enjoy the memory-wash that overcame me as I looked at them. So they sat. And the kids got older. One even moved out and moved on.

Enter my weekend sojourns to Blue River. 38 hour shifts, of which 36.5 were merely sitting around twiddling my thumbs. All that I needed to do was pack up my scanner, laptop and hard-drive, along with that box, and I could scan away without having to worry that I was infringing on all the other requirements of daily living, because there are so few in Blue River, Oregon. It was during the third such weekend that I scanned in the last of the photos in that box. I don't have to make any more decisions about those photos; I can throw away every last one of them if I want, or I can continue to hang onto them. I have already backed-up my hard-drive, so there are no worries about losing any, and because I do not consider scrapping them 'a chore' They are completely removed from the list of things that I must accomplish 'someday.'

Eventually, I may try to work them into some semblance of chronological order, but right now I am just enjoying watching the random images pop up on my screen, and wishing I could hop in and out of them to squeeze a chubby baby just one more time.