Exactly a year after my father died I found myself struggling with how I might do something meaningful as a remembrance. Though professionally Dad was a pharmacist, he was fascinated with computer science for as long as I can remember. Despite that, he died before he ever actually published anything to the web beyond one day attempts at html and CSS.
While platforms like Facebook have been around for ages, I decided to set up a more private space to remember him and in remembering him, remember all of my family. I decided to set this space up to post “one photo per day.”
In the subsequent years, I missed some days, I double posted some days, and some days I posed as many as 8-10 photos. Still, I’ve tried to keep with the spirit of the project. I’ve seen some beautiful times come and go
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and I’ve seen some (thankfully fewer) days of grief and sadness
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I’m writing this nearly 9 years later on the threshold of 2020. In a way, this has become the simplest of journaling exercises for me and yet it is invaluable to be to be able to scroll back through days – weeks – months – years… In those once a day photos, I am seeing my world change and my family grow up.
I still miss my father daily, yet I think this has grown into something much nicer than a testament to his memory. I can think of nothing he’d value more than a space to uplift, remember, and share the people he loved most. More than that, perhaps this record will bring joy to my own kids when they find themselves in my shoes one day.
Dec. 18, 2019.
BrooksHouse 