Photographic Memory

A picture is worth a thousand words, but memories are forever.

This week, my daughter attended her high school graduation ceremony. I was so proud and elated, while Arielle was thrilled to finally be done with the grueling academic work for now.

As she crossed the stage and received her diploma, I held four years of memories – all the intense late-night studying, her volunteering commitments, my offering advice on her papers, her work on the school’s inaugural literary magazine, and how her shyness dissipated somewhat through her participation on the Debate Team. And, perhaps most important, how she and a number of her peers forged close friendships.

At the graduation, I took pictures we will always treasure, and even texted some to family and a few close friends.

And this got me thinking, what’s in a photo?

So much.

I vividly recall my own high school graduation photos. Photos I will never see again, but will always treasure just the same.

Years ago, I forgot to take my photo albums when I moved out of my then-husband’s and my condo. My ex-husband has since moved somewhere else, and he either took the albums with him, or disposed of them. Either way, they are gone.

But these precious memories are forever etched within me. And that’s truly what matters.

I hope that one day Arielle will look back at her graduation photos with love and appreciation that evoke the power of memory, as well as with awe of her accomplishment.

One day, she took a photo in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood, now etched in her own memory. She soon used it as a reference photo to create the below acrylic streetscape, proving that photography and art can capture one’s memory and heart.

And finally, hats off to the class of 2026!