Saving for the future

 

It seems that most of us spend our lives saving for the future. When we are young, we save for a home, for our kids' college education and many other things. Over time, we also save for retirement. None of these things are certain; we are betting on a future we cannot see. My husband retired last year and we are starting to benefit from all those years of saving, but not everything has gone according to plan!

My husband and I have always loved travelling, and exploring the world. When our children were young, we took them places, especially to the West Coast and to Europe to see family. After they flew the nest, we took a number of big trips, just the two of us, to Hawaii, Italy and France. There were several trips to the UK, including one in 2019, where we took a granddaughter with us. We expected to go further and longer once my husband retired. In fact, we always talked about going to Australia or New Zealand for our first post-retirement trip. 2020 changed all that.  We were in England when the COVID-19 pandemic reared it's ugly head and barely made it back to the USA before all transatlantic flights were cancelled. My husband immediately began to work from home and our world shrank. Since that time we have only managed one trip, to the West Coast, and even that had to be delayed due to COVID!  

The pandemic has shown us that life can turn on a dime. One of my big motivations as a photographer has always been capturing those fleeting moments, big and small that make up a life. Over the last two years, I've attended more funerals than weddings, and each life celebrated was well documented in photographs. Some of them recorded big events like a wedding or graduation but many were just ordinary snapshots of everyday gatherings, made poignant by time. These days, everyone has a camera in their pocket! So, don't wait to take photos with grandparents, aunts and uncles, best friends, siblings and even pets. Make sure both Mom and Dad are in the family pictures. And, every once in a while, invest in a professional portrait. That portrait is valuable now, but twenty or thirty years down the road it will be priceless!