This is why . . .

There I am, on my fifth birthday, kittens on my skirt, roller skates on my feet, and a huge angel food cake. My smile is as bright as the West Texas sun.

Is is a perfect image? Absolutely not. Busy background. Motion blur. Harsh shadows.

But I treasure this image of a moment that I would otherwise have forgotten.

During the pandemic, my sister worked from home for a year. This gave her time to finish a project she had long wanted to get to: digitizing our family photo albums. I am so grateful that she did.

There's my mother, a bathing beauty on a Galveston honeymoon. My brother and his best friend, a golden retriever named Khaki. My dad in a 1960s crew cut, his arms around two giggling toddlers.

And photos of our ancestors, our grandparents as young adults, our aunts and uncles as children.

This is why we keep photos. While they don't replace our memories, they help keep them alive. They mark the important days like fifth birthdays and ordinary moments like playing with a beloved dog.

This is why I am a photographer. I want to tell these stories for myself and for others as well.