Photographs have always been my family’s favorite way to reminisce about fond memories. The collection of them shows how much we have grown, shows how we have overcome many obstacles of life, and most importantly shows how much we care about one another. Even though there may be a numerous amount of them, photographs are truly irreplaceable objects that can help us travel back to another time and place emotionally.
   

One of my favorite pictures is from when my siblings and I were younger, getting ready for church on Easter Sunday. My sister and I had large grins on our faces, as we were excited to have our picture taken. However, my brother showed an angry expression on his face, as if taking a family picture would be the end of him. It’s shocking to see how much my siblings and I have changed over the past few years. We have all clearly grown in height and weight, and we have all developed our own individual styles instead of looking like our parents clearly picked out our outfits for the day. We all seem to have matured, as we no longer fight about meaningless factors of life anymore. Still, photos show parts of family dynamics that are universal, since my siblings and I look like we’re arguing. However, we still all look like we are happy to be with each other even though we weren’t getting along at the time.
   

Another one of my favorite pictures is a picture from my great grandmother’s funeral. The picture had been taken right after calling hours, after we had all finally stopped crying. Even though the picture was taken at a time that was depressing for all of us, we all were together, and that’s what we all considered to be most important at the time. We all realized that even though it was sad that my great grandmother was no longer with us, we could still celebrate her life and the time we spent with her, as well as celebrating each other and cherishing the family members that were still alive and well.
   

I remember a photo from when my cousin and I were toddlers. We were seated on my now dead great grandmother’s lap in the living room of my grandparent’s house. In the picture I was hugging him around the neck because I wanted him to come closer to me so I embrace him. However, in the end result of the photograph it looked more like I was trying to choke my cousin instead of give a loving hug. Despite the fact that I thought I was being a good cousin by physically showing my love to my cousin, sometimes other methods are more effective. Even though we may have uncomfortable moments with each other from time to time, we still care about each other very much and want other people to know that we care about each other and know that we are lucky to have a caring and supportive family dynamic.
   

Photographs are my family’s way of emotionally traveling back in time because photographs often show how much we have grown, show how we have overcome many obstacles of life, and most importantly show how much we care about one another. Even though not all memories linked to photographs are good ones, we wouldn’t trade the memories we have together for anything. Every photograph and memory are important to each individual’s life, helping to show our uniqueness and life values. Most importantly, photographs can help us realize what we used to be, what we are, and what we can become as individuals.