PUBLISHER’S COLUMN: DEAR CAMERA ROLL

JEREMY WALTNER  |  PUBLISHER & EDITOR

People used to keep diaries. Maybe they still do. I was never into it, but my wife kept an active journal in high school and college that includes musings about our on-again, off-again relationship. She, of course, still has these writings and no doubt cherishes them; they are, after all, a valuable piece of history and a look back on the life she once lived.

I have been struck recently at how the casual and spontaneous pictures we take document life and time. Because cameras and phones now function as one device, it’s too easy not to snap a quick photo of the sunset or the ducks on the pond or the budding trees. The camera roll on my iPhone currently contains 34,714 photos — at least it did as of early this week. Those photos not only take me back to things like Oliver’s and Ella’s recent basketball seasons, our small family gathering last Christmas and the snowy state cross-country meet in Rapid City last October, but they serve as a record of what was. Because the photos on our phones are date-stamped, there’s no question that it was Feb. 21, at 12:06 p.m., that Stacey and Oliver were shoveling our driveway. Think of it as a diary entry.

What has prompted all of this was my longing for warmer weather and my recollections of what was a gorgeous spring one year ago. Just when did we fire up our firepit on the back patio for the first time? I asked myself. Because I take pictures of everything, I knew my camera roll would tell me. Sure enough; it was the evening of April 7. We were outside again on April 11 for an Easter weekend scavenger hunt for the kids — Ella in shorts and Oliver without a shirt — and on April 19 the family headed to the Arboretum, dog in tow, to enjoy another sunny day. And on April 23, I potted my first flowers of the season.

I’m hopeful for a repeat of the beautiful April and May we enjoyed last year; I’m sure everybody is. I sense a deep, collective longing to get outside and soak up life. Considering the uncertainly that surrounded the spring of 2020, when nobody knew what to make of the coronavirus, this time around feels different. We’re still not in a post-pandemic world, but it seems like we’re closer. The vaccines being distributed at least provides some piece of mind.

Here at the Waltners, we’ve already had a couple of fires out back; Oliver has set up his golf net and Ella has been cruising around town with her friends, enjoying a taste of what the summer months will be like. I’m eager for what looks to be a nice weekend ahead and plan to enjoy much of it outdoors.

My kids will again roll their eyes at the number of photos I will take while enjoying the moments, but I will revel in it. Not only will those pictures document these fleeting times, they will serve as a record of what was. Come 2022, when I want to go back and see just when our garden was planted, I’ll be able to do so.

I don’t keep a journal, but I sure as heck take pictures. And for me, that’s just as good.

Jeremy Waltner is husband to Stacey and Dad to Ella & Oliver. If you see them out back, stop by to say hi.