Suebob's Red Stapler: What say you?

25 April 2009

What say you?

My friend Coco is a marvel. The kind of marvel you kind of want to punch in the face sometimes.

She is super smart and funny, has rock-hard abs and husband who is carved from a solid block of Win. See why I can't stand her?

She has 4 kids and one day during the height of Scrapbooking mania, I asked her if she was going to be indulging.

"No way," she said. "No scrapbooks and no photo albums. I want to keep doing new things, not thinking about the old ones."

In one way, her attitude is appealing. Be like a shark - keep swimming forward. Why sit around fondling memorabilia?

But I am a Cancerian and my tribe tends to be sappy and sentimental and nostalgic little fussbudgets.

What do you think? Bathe in past glory, or nakedly march into the future?

16 comments:

Green-Eyed Momster said...: I'm a Cancerian too!
I have most of the pictures of the kids on disks, though, so I suck. I've printed some and I have a lot on my blog which I just found out was bad because there are sick people in the world. Who would have thought?
I say you rock! Fondle whatever you want to!!

Hugs!!; 8:07 PM
Green-Eyed Momster said...: That didn't sound right so, fondle your memorabilia if you want to!
HA!

Hugs!!; 8:08 PM
Heidi said...: I am all for both - I can't really go anywhere without knowing where I've been. Holy cow, that was so insightful. I just made that up. But really, I side with you bc I LOVE scrapbooking.; 11:43 PM
Average Jane said...: As a fellow Cancerian, I like to keep a healthy dose of past around, although I'm too lazy to scrapbook. That's probably why I write nostalgic blog posts on a fairly regular basis.; 5:46 AM
Stephanie said...: There's absolutely nothing wrong with using pictures to stimulate or capture memories. I can't see putting a huge amount of time & energy into scrapbooking if you're not into that but I think the idea of shunning the past, which is what shapes us today and tomorrow, is a bit bizarre.

I say that as a live-in-the-now Sagittarius.; 7:34 AM
Kizz said...: Take a lot of photos while you're boldly striding into the future.; 8:15 AM
LittlePea said...: Yeah. Both I think. I love pictures and old photo albums. I don't think we have to trade one for the other. Remembering the past makes us smarter in the future anyway, I think.

--When I meet people with rock hard abs, I debate whether or not I should hate them too :o); 8:40 AM
Chase said...: I don't think it's either living in the past or marching into the future. I think it's more that neither of those things exist - the only thing alive is the now. I try to remember that on a daily basis, as hard as it is.; 8:59 AM
meno said...: I take pictures, but i don't do much with then, other than look.

I can't imagine scrapbooking. The end result doesn't interest me.

Must be a virgo.; 9:22 AM
Mignon said...: I'm with Meno. I take hella lot pictures and both my computers have them continuously scrolling as screensavers. Sometimes we finish dinner and end up sitting at the table for another 20 minutes while we watch our past (in Ken Burns effect).

That's all I can commit to, though. I throw everything away, so someday my kids will just have to guess what their grade was in Music in 3rd grade.

I'm a Leo and have no idea what that has to do with what I just said.; 10:48 AM
Mayberry said...: Lookit all us Cancers!

I WANT to preserve memories, but am too busy living everyday life to do so. So I give my mother CDs with my photos on them, and she edits and prints them and puts them in albums for me. (This because she got too fed up with me not doing it. And she's not actually a Virgo.); 1:36 PM
Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah said...: I say both!

You can upload to flickr from your iPhone.

You won't see me cutting out shapes with fancy scissors, but I have insane records of my children on the internet.; 1:49 PM
Julie @ The Mom Slant said...: I'll tell you the reason Coco doesn't scrapbook: she's got four kids. I've got three and have yet to print a photo in which Oliver is pictured, let alone snip it into some cutesy shape and attach it lovingly to some acid-free paper.

But I have tons of memorabilia in boxes, and I'll admit to occasionally taking it out and reminiscing.; 5:09 PM
Suzanne said...: I tend to bathe in the glory of past mistakes...; 6:58 PM
KristenM said...: I don't scrapbook in the traditional sense, but I make video "scrapbooks." I do it (1) because I have a lousy memory and I want to remember, (2) My daughter asks questions about when she was a baby (she's 5 now) and I have a lousy memory, (3) I want far away family to be able to share some of this stuff.; 7:47 AM
flurrious said...: I say both as well. You don't want to be Miss Havisham, but never thinking about the past can make a person kind of an ass. I mean, not Coco in particular; I'm sure Coco is lovely. But regret keeps us civilized, and good memories keep us sane on bad days.; 7:26 PM