A lesson learned

My uncle passed away last week. We went to the beach via Yazoo City for his funeral on Friday. My dad asked me to make a DVD slideshow of pictures of my uncle to show. So, we had Patti, my aunt to get me as many pictures as she could. Keep in mind that they have only been married maybe 3 years, I don't even think that long. Well, she shows up with about 700 pictures. She didn't have time to scan the other 4,000. Some of the pictures were silly, some were sweet, some were off color, some were completely out of focus and a technical nightmare. You know what though? They were all real. They were all exactly as I remember my crazy Uncle Donnie. I am so thankful that Patti has those pictures for us to remember him. What did I learn? I need to take more candid, real pictures. A silly expression trumps perfect focus any day. So, to all of you out there in blogland, take the time to be in the picture rather than behind the camera every now and again. Be silly. Have fun. Someday, your friends and family will sit around a table very thankful to have them.
So, here we are on the beach, 1/2 cut off, with the camera as far out as my arm would reach.