We go on a vacation and run from one landmark to another, so that we can pose for a photograph to preserve the memories forever. We share it on social media and get likes, which makes us feel good. Yikes! Is that what a vacation is all about? Last year, my wife and I were on a 10 day vacation. I lost my camera, 5 days into the vacation. The last 5 days of the vacation were bliss. The holidays you take, without trying to capture and share the memories, are the most memorable. You actually look and appreciate the landmarks. You wonder when you visit an 11th century church, how they were dressed, what were they praying for, how the shadows played in the candlelight and the fervor of those times. However if you have a camera, you are looking for the best place to take a shot. Once that goal is accomplished , you move on. There are other keepsake’s we hang on to. They crowd our lives, but we cannot part with them. I have no keepsakes of my brother, whom I lost long ago, but I remember him everyday of my life. I do not remember anything he gave me, but I do remember all that he did for me. He convinced me that there were no ghosts when I was 6 years old, and saw a ghost around every corner in my imagination. All my Father’s days gifts have dissolved in memory, but I am sure that they are all lurking in the house somewhere. A good friend of mine does not remember all the gifts I gave him on all the important events in his life, but always remembers when I drove a 100 miles to check on him when he was not answering my repeated phone calls. A colleague of mine , who is since retired would always call to check on me whenever he heard that something that could be potentially upsetting to me, had happened at work to me. I am not sure all the Christmas gifts he gave to me over the years.. Keepsake’s evoke memories, if and when you revisit them. The memories that you keep forever, are those that are not kept, but given away………