that horrible moment when...

Nearly every photo I have taken in the last five years is gone.

Literally thousands of photos - gone forever.

Family trips (church history trip, California, Tennessee...), school events, dates, hangouts with friends, other special memories...

I feel like part of me died. Which is super dramatic, but there's a reason that I take so many pictures.

I love to look back at them. I love to remember the way that I was feeling when it was taken, or what beauty inspired me to take it...

Even though most of my brain wants to just explode and cry and remember everything that's gone and be sad, I've decided that this just means that I get a fresh start.

I get to begin again, and create a whole new set of memories. 

And the old ones? I can be grateful for the few that I was able to salvage from Facebook and various other places.

I'm making it a goal right at this very moment to get back to the places I lost all my pictures from. Several national parks, Tennessee, NYC... It'll happen!

Note to self: Utilize online photo storage.