Every now and then I look over these old photos and remember some of the happiest times of my youth. Time spent in Germany with my Opa (German for grandfather) in one of my favorite places, his garden. Since he lived in the heart of Wiesbaden, surrounded by urban hustle and bustle, he rented a space in a popular gardening community. There was a little house with a sink, fridge, and stove, you know just the essentials. It had a little deck connected and the rest of the space was dedicated to a little patch of nature among an old world stone and concrete city. He grew cherry, apple, and lemon trees among others. Plenty of variety of flowers and some of the softest well kept grass I've ever had the pleasure of laying in. I would play with my G.I. Joes and matchbox cars while he and my parents prepared all manner of preserves and pastries using the very fruit he grew there. We would listen to music, eat, and play cards while spending the whole day there. This was all 30+ years ago. My Opa was so dear to me, and though I have such fond and vivid memories of him, the passage of time has muddied them up some. It's not until I pull out these old photos and like a cut scene in a movie I'm brought back to that time. The innocence of youth, no responsibilities, and endless imagination. If you haven't connected the dots yet, allow me to sum it up with....photos, printed photos are important! Whether you get them from me or you produce them yourself, you need to get these digital images from the computer to an analog form. With this wonderful technological push we've seen, we're losing our past and any connection to it if we forget to make tangible the only method we have of preserving the past. Get that paper in your hands, show it, put it up on your walls, and hand them down to your kids.