“SAVE THOSE PICTURES”
Recently I was part of a group that discusses clutter and what to get rid of to reduce it. The subject of year books came up, and year books were considered something to get rid of, because they are “clutter”. Some people agreed and some disagreed.
I am in the keep the yearbook team. I don’t have any from my previous life. It was not the thing to get when I was in high school. We had a big tableau on the wall of the school. When we went to visit my family back in the old country, I took my kids to the high school to show them where I stood before exams, where I held someone’s hand, our class picture framed on the wall. It was not there. :0(
There was a renovation at some point, and all of the tableaus were taken to the basement storage. Then a plumbing accident damaged a bunch and they were unrecoverable. I was sad about that. My kids never saw part of my (their) history.
I am a photographer because I believe that pictures hold legacies. I grew up with family pictures on the walls of all of my aunts, grandparents, great aunts and I really enjoyed knowing and seeing my ancestors. I will be referring to those walls full of pictures in future posts. They really affected how I turned out.
I don’t know; maybe because I am getting older, old pictures mean more. We do get together when I visit, and talk about people who passed: classmates who died young from work accidents, teachers who died from disease or suicide or old age; everyone has a story.
I like to investigate my ancestry and hear other people’s life story. When I knew them I was wondering what they would become. Now we look back and celebrate life’s turns that took us away but then got us back together to compare notes.
Someone said: if you cared about a person who passed in that book, you would have more than just a picture in a yearbook. Not necessarily. Sometimes all you have is one, and it will have to do. Thanks to facebook, we found old classmates and teachers and when we go home on vacations we organize class reunions and visit teachers. They were a big part of our lives when we were kids and there is nothing wrong with holding onto those relationships.
I make sure my kids have all their year books and they do look through them often. They are only 18 so we are talking kindergarten and elementary schools. They enjoy seeing old friends all grown up, voices changed and all.
I am designing their high school grad year book for the school this year.
It’s part of my job and getting rid of year books, or pictures conflicts with my work, with my belief that they are precious and priceless.
I can find something else to get rid of on that decluttering list. Maybe year books don’t need to go right now for me.
If other people find that they are just clutter, they can get rid of them. They are not clutter for me so I am keeping them. No drama about that 
Here is an older year book that we check out once in a while. They are fun memories to look at.
