I saw this question last week - and I have been thinking about it ever since. If I could only keep one memory - what would I choose? Would it be the memory of a person, or perhaps of a specific experience, or a smell, or just a feeling? One week along - and I am still unable to even make the shortlist of possibilities.
The phasing out of photo albums, at least in the hard-covered book format, is something that I think will be a great loss of joy in the future. The experience of sitting with a grandparent, looking and talking about photos, has always provided a valuable source of both family connection and history for many generations. Photos trigger memories. Sometimes photos help to create memories - especially in children who want to repeatedly hear a story related to a photo showing themselves as a baby or toddler, or a photo from their parent's wedding. For a child, a memory of a time not remembered is created by the photo, the story and their own imagination.
For a long time photo albums and photo boxes have been recommended as communication tools in working with people with dementia. Photos provide the opportunity for the person with dementia to be confident in telling some of their own story to the people around them. Family members find it easier to connect when their is a visual image of a shared experience connecting them to the person. Quietly reminiscing over photos is a skill and a source of joy that continues long into a dementing illness.
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