Print your pictures for your kids, grandkids, family, and friends

I recently had to travel to the Netherlands because my sister and I had to clean out my mother's apartment. She had lived in it for almost 48 years: since we moved there in 1968 until she moved into assisted living a couple of weeks ago. Although it was partially a sad job, going through all her things and deciding what could be kept and what had to be given or thrown away, it also had some fun and nostalgic moments.

My mom saved hundreds of pictures. Some in albums, some just lying around. She had made albums with pictures of our kids, she had pictures of her and dad when just married, old pictures of other family members, pictures of us as kids, and even some very old family pictures from the early 1900's.

One picture was very intriguing: it was an old picture of some army soldiers and civilians. I am not sure, but I think it was from my father's dad when he was a member of the Dutch Army.

The image has no date, but it must have been taken some time during or just after the First World War. The sign says "Leve het 16e R.I." (Long Live the 16th R.I.), and I think it refers to the 16th infantry regiment. I'm pretty sure the soldier sitting on the far right is my granddad.

This and all the other pictures we found in mom's treasure trove bring home exactly the point I want to make here: a lot of people just don't print their pictures anymore. The images are living on computers, tablets, phones and in the cloud. People don't print because keeping their pictures in digital format only is easy, and they share them with people they don't really know, who most likely live at the other side of the world.

Discovering these pictures in forgotten albums and stacked in boxes was pure joy! It brought back memories, and some were discoveries of my families history.

And that is the most important reason why you really need to print your pictures: not for you, not for your Instagram or Facebook friends, but for your kids, your grandkids, your family. They will be triggering memories, kids asking about their family's histories, and bringing back memories from loved ones.

So go out and get your pictures printed! It is not difficult to do: you can use a professional photo lab like Richard Photo Lab or Dalmatian, but you can also have it done at for example CVS or Costco (they even have apps to have your pictures printed directly from your smartphone), or with a similar service outside the US.

As you can see, there is no excuse for not printing your pictures.