I was digging through storage boxes in my closet last night when I came across a stash of photographs I'd tucked away. Most of the pictures are stolen from my grandparents' house - since they're gone now, my sister and I laid claim to the relics of our childhood as captured through their lens. Hundreds of pictures of toddler me and my sister, four years older. Smiling, laughing, helping me open Christmas presents, giggling while hoisting me up to touch my lips to the stream of a drinking fountain, hiking in the desert, exploring in the woods, swimming in the lake. Both of us being toted around by our parents. Our parents (ancillary characters), young and fresh. My grandparents, loving and doting.

My memories are so fuzzy I feel like a stranger spying in on these familiar faces. I envy this family. They look fun and happy and perfect.

And then I'm struck that none of the things in these pictures exists today. My sister is more a competitor than caring overseer. My parents are recently divorced. My grandparents are dead. My brother missed these times, and the 11 years between him and my sister seem to have prevented the two of them from being photographed together, ever.

Interspersed in the piles of family pictures are the wallet-sized portraits my friends and I exchanged in high school like trading cards with tongue-in-cheek inscriptions on the back about how sexy I look, and don't you wish you looked as sexy as I look, ha ha ha. Prom and softball and senior pictures. There are also the rare pictures taken with friends through high school and college. I never had a good camera, and film and developing were luxuries low on the list of preferred ways to spend meager means. The sight of many of these faces stings.

As I look at each picture I'm assured these memories are preserved. 28-year-old me can look at baby me, 14-year-old me, 22-year-old me. I may not know that girl anymore, but I can remember her. But I'm keenly aware that even though I have a digital camera, I still rarely take pictures, and without these visual triggers I may have already lost most of the past 5 years.

Who besides me will care?