Guest Post Series ~ Featuring Brandon Duncan

Unfading Memories
Contributed By,
Brandon Duncan of the Blog Brandon the Duncan ~ Fatherhood in 4L- Living, Learning, Laughing and Loving it!

This is not Bellflower’s typical guest post, nor I the typical Bellflower guest.  Even though you know this, I encourage you to look beyond the fact that it is written by a man. Ignore the fact that I am not someone that scrapbooks and keeps memory boxes. Disregard the fact that frill and frou-frou exists nowhere in my life aside my daughter’s bedroom and wife’s craft room. I need you to squint just a little and take a glimpse in between the lines. For there you will find a message that is too often overlooked until it is much too late. We all have a few special moments in our lives that are permanently captured in our hearts and minds. Moments that you can recall as if they happened only minutes ago. They could be our wedding day. They could be witnessing that wobbly first step. They could be as simple as a birthday---no matter the year. In my case, a shocking and unexpected belly laugh from my newborn induced the happiest tears that have ever run down my face.

There are others, of course, but not many. Because no matter how exquisite the sunset, no matter how calm and refreshing the breeze that fall day, your mind will eventually just store it away. The finer lines become less detailed. The colors, not as crisp. The warmth of the fingers intertwined, now more a memory than an emotion. Your memories begin to fade. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I believe it. Yet a picture by itself is nothing more than a captured moment in time. It is able to pull fond, wonderful memories to the surface, that much is true, but think of all the pictures you have come across in your life. There are details in many that you cannot recall. Books display photos of old that leave you curious about the story happening at that moment. What were they doing? Why were they there? They look happy…were they?

As a writer, I understand the power of words. When crafted properly, they can answer those questions and more. They can transport you to that time and into that story. They are capable of creating the world around that frozen moment. The pictures are the bookmark, the words the narration. No, I am not the typical Bellflower guest, but I am an unofficial evangelist for the magic they are helping create---the gift of memories unfading.

To learn more about Brandon Duncan, please visit his blog at http://www.brandontheduncan.com/.  It is a wonderful way to get a male's perspective on raising a family:)

Comment from Bellflower Books: Wow Brandon!  Thanks for doing such an amazing job summing up the importance of our product (we just asked him to guest post for us, we didn't expect anything like this!) One of the things that makes our product different from a typical photo book is the emphasis based on text and the mission of our company to have more people take the time to tell loved ones how special and appreciated they are.  You are right, a picture may be worth a thousand descriptive words, but only a written out memory can accurately preserve feeling.  Thanks Brandon for all of your support!