This past weekend, my wife and I attended the funeral of a friend. And, as is today's custom, the funeral ended with a slide show replete with photos from the deceased's life--from infant years up through college and on to marriage, fatherhood and grandfatherhood.
The visual images included, as you would guess, the now embarrassing moments that come with hair woefully out of today's style and/or the way-too-loud sweater that, at one time, was considered fashionable.
Those in attendance grinned at the memories, and sometimes chuckled, as the life of a friend was chronicled with a handful of visual images. Only a soundtrack played--no audio of our friend or video clips were included.
The moment made me think--what would be the slide show of my life? What pictures would I want shown to my family, friends and colleagues when that time comes?
It's interesting to me that we rely upon an old technology for this special, poignant moment. Photographs still allow for time to be taken to survey the image, to see the expression(s), and to get transported into that moment, whether we were there or not. We all chuckled at the photo with the gaudy sweater, knowingly thinking "yep...I owned one of those." We giggled at the big hair and shook our head at the glass frames which were big enough to overwhelm a face.
What's in the slide show of your life? The question isn't asked in order to offer a depressing realization of our own mortality. Rather, the question is posed simply as a way to emphasize the opportunity that exists--there are plenty of good photos left to be taken for all of us.
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