"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else"

This Emily Dickenson quote caught my attention today. I have pictures to upload, scrapbooks to work on, etc. However, it is hard to document everything in the midst of everything. I'm not even sure how I feel about the documentation of everything via this blog, scrapbooks, etc. EXCEPT--I know that I love to do it for myself and for Zoey. (Matty too, in a way--and Ollie later, I am sure) I have looked at my scrapbooks with Zoey over and over again, until she knows the stories that are her life. I know there's some sort of research that says memory doesn't kick in until after three, at least, but by my constant documentation, perhaps I can play God for a bit and fill in the gaps.

I probably want this so much because I feel my own childhood to be so bare. I don't remember enough, and there aren't sufficient pictures and stories for me to get a feel of me or my parents when I was little. I see things in Zoey that my mom now says are just like I was and I am shocked. Not that we are the same, but that no one ever passed on these things. In my family there is a lack of history somehow. Maybe there were just too many kids. I can't tell you the number of times that I have heard, "When you were little, well, no, maybe that was Mark. . . or no, I think it was you..." It is weird, but I guess not uncommon with six kids.

So, I am going to go and work on my scrapbook. I'm finishing Ollie's first days pages and then I'll move on to Zoey's 3rd birthday party. I'll save all the stories from her party for another day when I have the pictures to upload. I'm curious what other people think about these thoughts--so if you are reading this, feel free to chime in:
Why is scrapbooking, blogging, etc so popular right now?
Do we miss something by constantly documenting everything?
Who are we doing this for?
Is there any danger in the continual scripting of the past?

Hmm... I'll see if anyone comments, as I am going to think about this. For example, I took photos of Zoey's party, but we didn't videotape at all, as we were both actually enjoying Zoey and the party. I felt quilty and sad that we won't have any moments of that day caught on the video. Weird. I'll remember the day, we'll have photos, why want more? Back in the fall, there was a MY TURN in Newsweek about a woman fed up with trying to watch everything through a lens. Hmm...

Amber