It surprises me how often I’m talking with loved ones about an event or gathering we attended together where we each remember something different. It’s not that any of us has forgotten or remembered incorrectly. Certain things simply stand out more for one individual than for another.  That’s why it’s so important to capture the moment.

Although I am writer and videographer, my constant companion is my camera. For me, a video camera is for telling a story, the pen is for sharing feelings, but a camera… a camera captures moments in time, including emotion. Photos encourage us to revisit precious moments and savor them once again.

Although I’ve always enjoyed photography, which I first took in high school, many years lapsed before I picked it up again. I’ve really only redeveloped those skills in the past ten years or so years. That explains why my husband was chief photographer on our visit to China, where we adopted our twin daughters almost 17 years ago.

I recall being annoyed at times when it seemed his focus was on his cameras and taking photos, rather than on our new daughters. I remember one horrifying moment when I found one of our new infant daughters, parked alone in her stroller, in the middle of Tiananmen Square.

I minced no words sharing my anger with my husband at his having wandered off to take a photo, leaving her alone in her stroller. He countered with, “We may never get back to China again, so I have to get these photos now!”

He had a point. This moment in time would never come again, and it was important to capture it – for them and for us.

Our solution was to agree that when he wanted to photograph something at a distance, he would first entrust both daughters to me.

Now, as our daughters approach their 18th birthday, I’m ever so thankful he captured those memories. They were preserved (on film, at that time) and we have those first days of our life together to share with our daughters. They are part of keepsake adoption books for each daughter that has become part of our family story.

So whatever your choice of media is to capture and commemorate special times — and we now have so many options — DO IT! Pick up that video camera or phone, that pen  and journal or computer, and record the moment. Those sweet memories are part of your life story, and part of your family’s shared legacy.

Written as Editor of BeyondtheNest.com and published in the June 8, 2017 newsletter issue.