I'm guilty, too. We want to capture every moment. Photograph it, record it, Insta & Snap story it. As someone that's passionate about photography, I'm extra inclined to whip out my camera, trying to capture a moment and make it last forever.
About a month ago, I was at my favorite coffee shop with my dad and my brother. We had gone out to dinner and wandered the downtown area of my hometown until we landed in Copper Coin. They had a live New Orleans style jazz band playing, and people were singing, drinking, and clapping along.
Since going to college, genuine, uninterrupted, quality time with my family members is something that's hard to come by, and this moment, laughing and singing along to the band with my baby brother and my dad, was one I wanted to last forever.
This past week, my friends ands I loaded up the car on a rainy Thursday afternoon and took a (3-hour-with-traffic) drive from Athens to Metro-Atlanta to see one of my all time favorite artists, Macklemore. We had accounted for less traffic and much less rain, but nonetheless we danced and sang the night away.
There's something about concerts -- and seeing a favorite artist live -- that just brings such a sense of genuine, intense joy. As I was standing on the lawn, covered in mud and soaking wet, both of my hands in the air, I was singing along to one of my favorite songs, turned my face to the sky, let the rain fall onto me, and thought, "wow, I want this to last forever."
In that moment, I didn't take out my phone. I didn't photograph or Snapchat.
I just felt.
I lived. I smiled. I soaked in all that was going on and used all of my senses to grasp onto this moment that had me so high.
And, like that, it hit me.
This is how you make it last forever.
This lasts longer than a photograph or a video or anything I could put on Instagram. This will last longer than the stories told or the years recounted.
This.
How I feel in this moment is what lasts, because I'll forget the set list, what I wore, and the traffic I sat in, but this feeling of pure, genuine, blissful, happiness will last me forever.
