Take the Picture

That's right. Take the picture.

It doesn't matter whether you're an accomplished photographer or use a cell phone. If you see something you want to photograph, do it! Take pictures of your family, your friends and your pets. There will almost certainly come a time when you will treasure those photographs.

I am an accomplished photographer. I love taking pictures of the world around me, including my dogs. And when those dogs die, as they invariably will long before me, those pictures bring back such wonderful memories.

I always tell myself I will remember how a particular dog's coat felt, how the ears felt, how the dog smelled (and not in a bad way. Each dog, like each human, has its own particular smell). But such details invariably fade with time.

So take the picture! I love looking at photos of my pets from decades ago. My office is filled with dog photos. And when my 2-year-old golden retriever died suddenly of meningitis, I ordered prints of some of my favorite photos of him. They make me sad to know he is no longer here, tearing through my back yard as he chases after my other dog. But they also make me smile, to recall the time we spent together.

There are three pictures I regret not taking. The first was when he stood at the wrought iron gate to my enclosed courtyard, looking through the openings and watching me. I never had a camera or a phone with me. "I'll get that photo later," I thought. And then he died. Later never came.

The second image, which I tried to capture, was of him bursting through a large hedge in my back yard as he chased my other dog in a big oval. I tried to get the photo, but my shutter speed was too slow and the picture was blurry.

The last photo was of both dogs standing at the back wall, on their hind legs, looking to see what the neighbors were doing.

Three missed opportunities. Three missed photos I will never be able to get. Three missed memories.

So grab your camera, or grab your cell phone, and take the picture!