365 Special Occasions

It’s a strange propensity, we humans have, for making note of these things we have come to call “special occasions.”

Marking an anniversary, a birthday, or another special date seems to be a cross cultural ritual. Maybe it comes from our ancient ancestors who would use the sun and moon to track seasons, food supplies and times to move to follow the food. And to ensure a consistent life, they’d remember that particular place of the sun or moon in the sky and repeat as necessary. Which leads back to where we started, coming full circle.

Was this how the habit of recognizing the significant times of the year or days our lives was born?

What were you doing one year ago today?  If it was a “special” day you may make a mark in your calendar, send a card or gift, or in some other way take of note of the fact that there has been one complete cycle of the Earth around the sun since that event happened and to say “I remember”.

With the invention of the camera, a much more fun and easy way to mark special days was created.  Taking a photo of the occasion and creating vast albums of memories became a family tradition in most households, with birthdays, milestones, random events all being catalogued in an endless book of pages, making concrete the passing of Time, as the Earth makes one more path around the sun. This is such an ingrained pastime that big business created new special days so they could make more money from people sending cards and giving gifts. (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, “Secretaries'” Day, etc.)

But I prefer the photographic record of events. As time fades the pages in the book that is our memory, the photographic image remains steadfast – a tribute to The Day…

So my friend, take many photographs, delete few, and share them all.