Upon scrolling through my mother’s facebook page, I stumbled upon some images of myself (only after skimming past at least 13,000 images of my dog). The narcissist that I am, I decided to try my best to explain the context of these images.
June 18, 2013
Flight 32593 ORD –> HKG
After an hour of candy crush on my mother’s alternating states of consciousness, my mother has just woken me up midway through our sixteen hour flight to Hong Kong because she couldn’t decide whether to order me the chicken or beef dinner. Two hours ago, the businessman with a tiny bottle of whiskey two seats down has repeatedly requested for me to shut the window, and, to my dismay and a bit of coercion from my mother, I’d given in.
Dec 22, 2010
Classic Corvettes Auto Show
My family, or my brother, rather, has dragged me to the third car show this month. My father busted out his camera after noticing the beautiful back trunk of the corvette that is definitely a corvette, catching me off guard. But, not to worry– I’m always camera ready. Though it’s a breezy spring day in the mid-seventies, I’ve insisted on wearing my favorite “Smile, Dance, and Relax” tank top. I normally hate the weird tint of sunglasses, but on this day, caught in a summery mood, I insist on rocking my cousin’s hand-me-down shades.
June 24, 2010
Under the Kwong Dining Table
On this particular Tuesday morning, my mother had summoned me to practice violin. I thought to myself: what could I do to avoid this situation?
With my limited options as a seven-year-old, ( running away/throwing a fit were out of the question) I settled on hiding, in hopes that my mother would abandon her mission of finding me. What better place than under the dining room table? So, grabbing my moral support, Coco, we station under the shelter of our dining room table for what feels like a lifetime. I slowly rest my head on a pillow, and– BAM.
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Though parts of these narrations are accurate, they are more like collages, fragments of my life that have been pieced together: stories that I can recall, tales I’ve been told, and similar experiences.
While we can never fully recall our thoughts and feelings at a particular instance, technology allows us to encapsulate stories and memories in full detail.
While I did find my fair share of adorable pictures at a younger age, I found that it was nearly impossible for me to even find a single memory. I noticed that as the years have gone by, there have been less and less pictures of myself and my brother posted on my mother’s facebook page. When I confronted my mother about it, she confirmed a theory I’d already extrapolated. As the years have gone by, I’ve been progressively less willing to be photographed– something I already regret. Thankfully, my mother found a replacement in 2016 with my dog Bella, but it leaves me with regret. If I’d looked at these images eight years ago, I’d indefinitely have deleted them already. However, I’m grateful that I still have them now to look back and laugh at.
My cheesy message? Take pictures and live in the moment.
Though I can’t relate to having my pictures posted on Facebook, I find my self bothered by the disturbing lack of photos of myself, friends, and family. I look back on memories such as old friends and family to only realize, darn, I don’t have any photos of them so I’ve been making an effort to take pictures of them, especially since they aren’t forever.
Hi Faith! I think this is absolutely adorable! We love to see young Faith sporting her fashionista style :). And yes, I totally agree. My mom’s facebook page, like your mom’s, is filled with me and my brother in very in-the-moment pictures and I couldn’t be more grateful because I love reminiscing about my childhood. I definitely have to say that pictures capture the best and worst parts of life and everything in between and I will take your advice to heart. I think in the future, hopefully we will keep our instagram profiles because I know for sure that those are the facebook profiles of our time. We can all reminisce in the lives we live now and our teenage years in this version of a photo album. Anyway, I loved this blog of yours – it’s so cute and special and I look forward to reading more of your posts 🙂
I find this so funny. I love the stories behind all of these pictures and just the fact that it comes from your mom’s facebook account. My mom’s facebook page is probably the one thing that I do not want people to see. The photos on there are the worst photos that could possibly exist of me. Although, I saw an article about how your parents’ social media shows more of a person that you are than your own platform which I found very interesting to see. Even some days, I will get a text from a friend and it is just a picture that my mom posted of me. I find it funny along with very embarrassing because I don’t have facebook because I don’t see much of a point to having it, but now I feel like I need it to see what my mom has been posting lately… But I absolutely loved this blog, and it inspired a new blog idea for myself.
Faith! I absolutely loved this post. The pictures of you were SO ADORABLE. I loved your backstories to each photo. Your descriptive explanations really brought me back to the moments the photographs were pictured. I especially loved the last picture of you falling asleep under your dining table, trying to run away from practicing violin lol that’s so cute. Your post got a little deep towards the end when you shared that your dog has pretty much taken over your place on your mom’s Facebook page. I bet if my family got a dog, the same thing would happen with my parents hahahah anyways, loved your ending message so much. Pictures really are memories we get to look back on later in life. You’ve helped me realize that I should take more pictures in my everyday life to always remember and be able to show my future friends/family. Thanks for that:)