Reasons to print

I almost never print any of my photos. I share them online or send them via text, or I give them digitally to activists (JoAnn Hardesty, Donna Hayes). Once a year I compile three Blurb books: one for the grandkids, one for Sue and me, and one of my favorite photos of the year that are not included in the other two. Otherwise, I just don't do prints. 

But as Margie's short-term memory wanes, it becomes harder for her to remember where her digital photos are; it becomes harder for her to find them on her phone or tablet; they are tiny and difficult for her to see. So I have discovered a reason to print: so our loved ones who are aging can have nearby visual reminders of what happened recently. Of course if we overdo it, the prints will disappear into heaps of paper, but a judicious number of prints, offered not too frequently, can be a boon. 

When Margie and I met for our weekly coffee today, I laid the prints out on the table before her, and she was delighted.

Extra: a prize for the scavenger hunt yesterday was air-drying clay. Evan created a creature I mistook for an Ankylosaurus. "No," he told me, patient with my obtuseness, "it's not an Ankylosaurus. Look at the tail! What kind of tail is that? It's a bunny tail. This is a Bunny Beast. When it's air-dried, I'll paint it."