Skype and Picture Regret

Technology is such a wonderful thing, especially in this day and age when there are so many awesome capabilities, Skype being one of them. Last week my mom downloaded Skype on her new iPad and I helped her sign up with her own username. I showed her how Skype works and we tested it out to make sure it worked.

Last night my mom told me she was going to bed and went upstairs. I thought it would be funny to give her a call on Skype, so I did. She was upstairs in her bedroom and I was downstairs in my room and we were talking. I asked her to "show me around" her room since she's made a lot of changes in her room since the last time I was in there.

I haven't seen the upstairs in my house in more than nine years, which is kind of a weird feeling. It's like there's this whole other part to the house I live in that I no longer have access to or am a part of. I'm confined to the first floor of the house and the upstairs and basement are off-limits to me. After my mom finished showing me around her bedroom, I asked her to give me a "tour" of the other four bedrooms that are upstairs. She's certainly done a lot of rearranging and it's a whole new house up there!

My old bedroom is now the large guest room, and it didn't look nearly as large as I remember (probably because it now has a king-sized bed in it which takes up lots of space). It doesn't look as happy and inviting as it once was, either. The way I had my room decorated and organized was just so "me" (or at least the me I was at 19).

Why didn't I take a picture of my bedroom to document how I lived?! It would be so fun to be able to see pictures of the way it used to be. Pictures showing how I had everything arranged just so. Pictures of my two closets full of my nice clothes which were organized by category, separated by color and hanging just the way I liked them (with an even amount of space between each hanger). Or pictures of my desk, dresser, bed, bookcase, etc. There's no way I can go back in time to have a photo shoot in my room, so I guess my mental images will have to suffice.

While I'm on the topic of regrets and things I wish I would've done while I still had the opportunity, I really regret never taking the time to take a picture of my car before it was smashed. The only pictures I have of it are the ones that a family friend took of it after my accident. I actually treasure those pictures because I know I would've always been curious as to what my car looked like after the accident if I didn't have the evidence.

The other thing I wish I would've gotten a picture of was myself in my white student nurse uniform. Me, wearing my white scrubs, white nursing shoes and blue jacket complete with my name tag and Jefferson College nursing school patch on the sleeve. I remember thinking that I looked so cute the day of my accident as I left the house dressed in my uniform, ready to tackle another morning of clinicals. Ironically, dressing as a nurse was the last outfit I would ever dress myself in. By the end of the day I wouldn't be the one giving care to others; I'd be the patient receiving the care.

Taking my Skype tour of the upstairs felt like going home again. I know this post kind of veered off in a different direction than it originally started. I'll conclude by urging people to document their lives and take pictures of things that matter to them—even ordinary things—while they still have the opportunity.  Chances are you won't regret it if you do, but you will if you don't!