Time Travel and its Documentation

Hello everybody! It's Jane once again. This blog is getting posted a little late. The problem is that the time change between Marjorie and me is changing as they travel. Our plan for posting was that if she didn't post, I would. This works in theory. The problem I am having is that I never know at what point I am definitely the blogger. Sorry!!

I'm getting ready to host a party for eight little girls today. I'm exhausted already. Everything needs to be videotaped, photographed, and kept running smoothly. This makes me wonder how much photography is needed? Should we document every moment or should we leave a few moments to the human memory only? Is it appropriate to edit the unhappy moments? Generally we only video the highlights; piano recitals, parties, Christmas, children's musicals, etc. Will viewing these hours of home movies warp my daughter's sense of reality? Maybe we should set up the camera in our house and just let it roll for a day or two. What do you think?

This line of questioning also opens up an interesting discussion regarding documentation of travel. Why do we all want to see photos of the Paths of Paul trip? I'm sure a quick Google search would produce many photos of Turkey and Greece. That's not good enough for us though...We want the actual photos of this trip. We want the experiences, at least in photo form, of this specific group of people. What do we hope to gain by it all? Is there some valid benefit to viewing other peoples photos or does it just serve to breed jealousy or even pity? I understand that in some way the pictures give us a person's story. Honestly though, how accurate is that story? Aren't some of the terrible parts omitted? I'm sure we won't see one photo of a seasick tour member chucking up their heels. Come on now...Who wants to see it anyway? We want the polish, the glossy print of life, with all of the ugly removed. I think we are all a little warped by photography, but there's no undoing it's damage. When everyone gets home, one of my first questions will be, "Where are your pictures?"

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!