Activity For The Day

I thought I'd start off my blogging career with a fun (or maybe fun isn't the right word) activity.  This is what I want you to do.
1. Go to your facebook profile (as if we don't all spend too much time on facebook already, do it anyway).
2. Under your picture, click on photos.
3.  In the section entitled "Photos and Videos of You," click "View Photos of You."
4.  Let the page load.  If you're like me, it may take a while for it to load the billions of pictures of you that are on facebook (I know, I am so popular).
5.  Starting at the top (which are the pictures of you that have been added to facebook most recently), take some time to scroll through all of the pictures until you reach the bottom.  Don't just simply look at the pictures.  Take some time to dwell on them.

As I did this, I was able to see 934 snapshots of my life from sophomore year of high school up until now.  It's not surprising that this activity became one of upmost nostalgia.  What was your life like during the photos at the bottom of the page were taken?  Who were you?  What were your plans?  Where were you going?  Who did you hang out with?  It's insane to see how much life has changed in just four years.  Until you really take time to dwell and reflect on it, you really don't notice.  Unless there is a sudden and significant occurrence in your life that jolts you out of your normal routine, you just really don't notice the change that's occurring.  Life has a habit of changing so slowly that you don't even notice what's different now than what it was just a few years ago.

These photos that you just viewed show where you have been, and the most recent ones show where you are now.  It's almost scary to think that this group of photos is going to continue to grow throughout the future.  In another four years, my photos on facebook could double, showing where I've been.  What are these photos going to look like?  What am I going to be doing?  Who will I be in the photos with?  Where are these photos going to be taken?  I have an idea, but I can't really know... scary.

Someday we'll be referring to days like today as "back then."  Hopefully I can look back at a picture of today and not have to think to myself, "Wow, I really wish things were the way they were before... I really miss some of those relationships that I had and the things that I did with those people for fun."  Of course, when I'm all growed up and out of college, I won't have the opportunity to mess around and have a good time with my friends like I do now, but I really don't want to have to look back at old photos and think to myself, "man, I wonder what these people are up to now" and "when's the last time I did something fun like that?"   I guess the ol' cliche saying that is driving this post is something like "live life to the fullest."  But more than that, don't forget the people, places, and things (hey, nouns!) that made an impact on who you are, where you are, and who you are with.  Although you may see people or things in old photos that are not a part of your life in the present, they nevertheless helped lead you to where you are now, and have made it possible for you to live the life in which you live.