I believe in a camera.

For a camera goes beyond the pretty selfies you take of yourself at the beach, for a camera goes beyond the cute video you get of your dog doing a trick, for a camera helps you remember and reflect. A camera makes all the difference when it comes to our lives.

A camera has a memory just like you.

 And what better way to access those memories than with a camera.  A place where you store all your happiest memories or even saddest memories. A place where you can go to see that loved ones face once more. See a camera for me always was symbolic because when you go through your camera roll you begin to move back in time or to present day. You begin to see the memories you may have stored in the back of your head and forgotten about. As I sit on my couch scrolling through my photos it was like I was scrolling through my own memory. Pictures of my dog on his birthday came up, pictures of my family down in OCNJ, pictures of my late Mommom. And with all these photos many brought a newfound emotion. Happiness, joyfulness, anger, distress, love, hardship, heartbreak. Many times, in my life I've said to myself if only I could remember that day, if only I could go back in time and see him one more time. But through the help of my camera, I can. Because see its easy for me to pick up my phone and feel like I am back in that moment.

 I pick up my phone and swipe through my pictures. I find a picture of my brother with a skateboard under his right arm, hair sweaty, eyes tired, and sandy. Skin tan and moist from the 80-degree weather that day. He stared back at me with glassy brown eyes and a slight smile. His left hand held a blue cotton and candy ice cream cone, the ice cream had been melting down his arm. The ocean glistening behind him as he sat there still on the bench. My eyes studied the picture and suddenly it all came back to me.

The memory.

The memory of that day was vibrated in my head now like no other.  A camera. A camera is the key to a long-term memory at your fingertips. The cool thing I find about a camera is that it is all there. Some would say that a camera represents one's own memory. Memory. A strong word meaning, " The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information." To me if I want to see a picture of my Mommom I can just go into my camera and scroll to find it. Often through finding that photo the sweet memories I have of her would pop back into my head. Memories. A place where you can go if you sometimes forget, a place where you can go and retrieve what you may have left. Because even for us, it's hard to always remember but with the help of a camera you will never forget.