What do you do with all the photos you take of your children, your trips, your pets? If you are like most you probably have at least 1000 photos in your phone’s camera roll and no one sees them unless you post them. I on the other hand, make photo books. Many photo books. Give them as gifts, of my trips and special events and even for others for their special events.

My photo books are an extension of my storytelling through the photos. When I am anywhere now I am always looking for a photo that will be a spark to a story or add to a page in my books.

On a trip to Cleveland a few years ago it was recommended to me to make a stop at the West Side Market, which we did. While not as old as Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market (1803), West Side’s history dates back over 100 years to 1912. In 2008, the West Side Market was designated as one of “10 Great Public Places in America,” by the American Planning Association and continues to offer an authentic and culturally diverse shopping experience.

As we walked from the parking lot to the market entrance I noticed this wall that was on the exterior of the store adjacent to the building.

Of course it caught my eye and I had to walk over and start to read all the amazing things that people posted on this wall.

Before I die, I want to:

Lots of travel related dreams: See the world, climb Machu Pichu, Go to Japan, go to space. skydive, swim with a humpback whale, go to Barcelona.

I noticed a lot of personal thoughts as well, which was interesting. When people are anonymous they can be more honest with their thoughts: Marry my best friend, marry three men, have a family, abolish the patriarchy, stop racism, be the best I can be.

Be the best I can be. Sounds like some great advice. Every day we open our eyes, we have a blank page to write in the book of our lives. We are the authors of the book, and the narrative we choose is ours alone.

I might even suggest that rather than being the best you can be, that perhaps the goal is to aim to be better than the best you can be. That way you always have something to strive for.

The stories are there, you never have to look very far.

I have been wanting to write much more than I have been the past couple of months. I have so many things I would like to talk about, but not sure how to weave all of the thoughts together. I know that things that bring me joy are related to travelling, food and my photos. I love my photos. I actually bought an IPhone which I think I shared in a previous post a couple of months ago. I am ‘old school’ and never liked cell phone photos, until I CHOSE the phone I purchased because of the camera. I am wondering how this will impact me when I take my next trip.

Recently I noticed that many of my sentences start off with “when I was in….” or, “that time when I was with…and we were….”. I have always known that I am a storyteller. I think people in my life expect me to have a story about anything and everything. I don’t mind having this title and believe it will serve its purpose well in my future.

I wanted to share a story about this photo that I took on my cruise in 2016.

On the Norwegian Ship we were on the back of the ship had an outdoor cafe called The Great Outdoors. It served a lighter version of the buffet food in the main restaurant. It was open from early morning until late in the evening and had bar service as well. The best part of the experience was the image in the photo…just sitting at the back of the ship watched the sea go by.

This was where our group met for breakfast each day. Our cruise was supposed to have three ports of call, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Los Cabos. The ship has some mechanical issues and we only ended up in Puerto Vallarta.

Due to the fact we had A LOT of time at sea one particular day we ended up having breakfast out on the deck, stayed long enough to have mid morning snack and stayed even longer to have lunch. We were joking last week remembering at one point thinking we should move tables because we were sitting at the same table for so long.

Spending the week on this cruise was a wonderful experience. No, we didn’t get to Los Cabos or Mazatlan, but we spent a lot of time laughing, sharing and creating memories. Memories that will last a lifetime. Expect the unexpected and you never know what can happen.

Do you have a memory that happened when something unexpected happened to you, either in your travels or every day life? I would love to hear about it. Please follow my blog in the top right hand corner and leave your comments here.

There is always a story, you won’t have to look far….

Social media isn’t something we can ignore. We have the choice of course to decide how how much we share and what we ‘choose’ to share. I have made some choices to share less than I have in the past and I think that I am going to choose to use this space more than my facebook feed to share aspects of my life moving forward.

Yesterday I was wishing two friends happy birthday greetings. After that I paused to remember another anniversary that shared the same day as these birthdays. It was the 15th anniversary of Aviva’s passing.

I was re-telling the story of that day to my friend last night. I know not everyone has the same memory recall as I do, but I can remember the story as if it happened yesterday. I do realize that some of that now is how we, human beings, live around the stories we write in our heads. The event is the event, in this case, that someone in our life has passed away. How we remember the events is the story that we carry forward.

Living memories are like video footage. The person is still with us, their voice can be recalled, their tone, and most of all, laughter. You can reach out and touch the memory because it feels so close, because it is. It is your present.

Memories of those who are passed still photos. Images that we have to piece the story together, because the narrators are not here to share the memory. it is your past.

Which is why we need to really live in the present. Be in the moments of your life and be present. Not every event will have a photo to recall the memory down the road, so create strong memories with the people in your life. Surround yourself with people that will challenge you, lift you up and push your forward.