Capturing memories...

It is this time of the year again. The beginning of the new year that brings with it wishes and hopes for a better future, a more prosperous one, an exciting one with opportunities for success and happiness. But while we all dream of the memories to be made and promise to ourselves to be our most perfect version, exactly at the same time, we make snapshots of our present, we take photos, we try to capture the present as if it the most precious thing in our lives. And isn’t it?

Efforts to capture the present seems to be almost essential part of the humans as a social beings. And of course, I will not (and I cannot) offer history lessons… Just during our recent trip to Italy, we visited Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last supper, an impressive piece of art, considering the time it was painted and technique used. Surely, it does not capture the present times of the painter; it, however, captures the beliefs and faith of his time. I heard there that the artist that did the restorations of the painting spent almost 23 years of her life on making sure we can have a look today at the original version (if you are interested, read on what how the painting was “treated” through the centuries…. From trying to change it, to trying to save it, to use the room as a stable…) I am hence sitting here wondering WHY it was so important to be able to see the original. It seems we are interested in looking at the original; the art or photo or any picture is the form it was originally created to try and understand the artist’s mind better, to interpret the intentions.

Yet, why do people wonder why others take photos (some particularly criticizing them)? Yes, sometimes too many photos…I am one of them; I take photos of my kids, of my surroundings, of my friends, of my pets, of my coffee…anything that “tells” me something. The same way I try to write down feelings and stories. And I share them; oh yes I do…a lot… with many people…knowingly, most do not even care about them or spend more than one second (even if…) to look at them (sorry if you are one of them!). Why do I take photos? Many times I wondered myself…

For me, they are my Last supper; they are my capturing of the moment forever. They are my only way to keep the memory a bit longer. They are my only way to hold on to something in an ever-changing world, in a world that spins faster than I can manage inside me. It is my Last supper to go back to remind me the story and the intentions and the feelings of the moment. How else? Unfortunately, the human brain does not have the capacity of a computer in storing all the little memories forever. We tend to remember the big moments in our life (let me not start with the question on the definition of what a BIG moment) and forget the everyday ones.

But yiayia waiting at the balcony for us to come back from the beach; pappous looking to the street from his terrace; eating ice-cream with Mistiko during summer holidays; my Prince’s face after a sleepless and difficult night with the boys; Big Boy having his first apple or Baby Boy feeling the sand in the beach for the first time are all moments that might have faded away like a dream through the years. Every time I look at these photos though all the sentiments of the moment come back: the warmth in my heart, the smile on my face, the smells in the garden, the sun in my cheeks, the sparkle in their eyes, even the headache… everything comes back. They are my own sacred Last supper, my own story to tell (to myself?) one day. Maybe no one will ever look at them again, does it matter? Of course not… Is Last supper less valuable if they close the exhibition and nobody can admire it again?

Entering the New Year thus I don’t follow advice such as “live your life and not try to capture every moment of it”… Richard Branson of Virgin Active posted recently “One tip for 2017 WRITE IT DOWN”…

I might add “Take a picture of it!!!” and at the end of the year, pour a glass of wine (there is the wine again…ok ok… pour whatever relaxes you), sit comfortably and enjoy the memories you have made for 2017. Some will be intense, some you will have forgotten by then, some will make you cry, some will make you smile… I will do the same. I will cherish them, embrace them and enjoy them. This year will make me stronger and wiser- every year does the same, every year is a lesson. And at its end, I will go through them again by looking at my Last Supper Season 2017! 

Cheers to 2017!!