Keep Them or Not

So it appears that almost a full year has passed and I haven't written. I was recently reminded of how important it is to keep up with this blog no matter how old you get so my plan is to recap the last year in several posts that will follow.

In trying to retrieve pictures from my phone, I realized that so many things have happened. You know when someone asks "How have you been" and you respond "Same old, same old"? Well, that really isn't the case. Something different and new is always happening with us - good or bad but always something.

I read an article a while back that said it's harder for you to make memories when you're older because your brain is rarely introduced to something new again but when you're young your brain is trying to map out every new experience. The article also said that if adults would slow down and be intentional about making the memories, they would happen more often. Notice colors, shapes, new roads, new faces - try to notice details so that your brain sees them as something new to remember. I've tried to do that more often this year but even so, I was floored by how much I've already forgotten that we did and how much you have grown right in front of my face.

So I'm going to start with April 2016 since I left off in March. April brought us Easter which is now and really always has been one of my favorite holidays. My Easters were always spent on Oak Island hiding easter eggs in Mabel's azalea and rose beds. I try to remember now and count the steps it took to get to the creek from the house and if I'm skipping in my mind correctly, I think there were 5.

We don't go to Oak Island anymore, but I still love the day and the season that it marks.

This is Clyde and Mabel back in the day. I have to include this picture on this post because I honestly can't remember an Easter when I was young when I didn't spend it with them.

We went to church on Easter Sunday this year in Chapin and got to see Choobs and BooBoo.

Dying Easter eggs fortunately is one thing Big can still get on board with. It's always a competition to see who can get their egg to be the darkest. Because of his competitive spirit, Big usually wins but I would never tell Lil' that to her face.

So like I said the posts are gonna start coming hopefully in somewhat of the order of how they happened. Our brains are finicky and the books that come from this blog help me remember some of the best moments of my life whether my brain wants to keep them or not.