First, let me say that I am going to complain about something that has no consequence and is not a problem. But it bugs me anyway.
Every time someone says that they are going to make memories by doing something or being somewhere, it sounds wrong to me. It sounds like they are thinking more about the future than the present. Of course, we all plan for a Big Trip, Big Birthday, etc. that we hope will be memorable, but making memories has crept into everywhere and every day. As we all know, memories, especially good ones, can come from the most mundane things. As I have been writing about a different topic every week for StoryWorth, this has become even more evident. For example, when writing about the kitchen from my youth, I remembered fondly soaking the labels off of cans and making puzzles out of them. This all came from my imagination and was not a special setup from my parents. They didn't need to give me a grand kitchen or special toys to make a memory for me.
I think the widespread use of the phrase make memories is a fairly recent phenomenon. I don't know, but I think it has stemmed from the explosion of social media sites to share things. This has changed the way we do things. For example, I remember a trip to Disney World where many people were spending so much time taking pictures that they didn't see or enjoy what they were supposedly experiencing. They spent much of their time ignoring what they had paid a lot of money to see. The mindset of how something will look on social media has crept into everyday life to the point that we need to manipulate every situation as one that will make memories.
I would like to say that I am totally immune to the social media explosion, but I'm not, as evidenced by this blog. I usually try to take a few pictures when we're on an outing, but I like to think that I am following one of my favorite sayings, "Everything in moderation." This brings me to the point that I have found what is comfortable to me in balancing the present and future (and recording it), and I should let everyone else find their comfort zone and not worry about it. But the phrase, making memories still bugs me.
