On December 29, 2010 I made my first Instagram post. That caption read "Poor Poppin' Fresh." My coworker had left this little gem for me to find when I returned to my desk from a long meeting. Seemed like a funny thing to take a picture of and give a mysterious filter to! I had no idea really what Instagram was but I knew they had fun photo editing features and I could make a feed of pictures that I wanted to share, whatever that meant! I had no followers and I followed no one.
Every few months or two I'd post something like our adventure to Super Bowl Media Day with the Steelers, tons of photos of Lulu and for some reason, lots of my feet. In 2013 I started posting more regularly of our daily life and mostly of our little Winston! I began following friends and ladies whose blogs I read. I started enjoying the little collection of photos that was gathering in my feed. Then a few years ago for Christmas I received the sweetest set of two books printed at Artifact Uprising. They were the photos I had posted to Instagram in a keepsake form. Every year I get another round of books, pages filled with the images that show our family growing, laughing and living life together. It is for this reason that I Instagram.
I do it as a way to preserve memories. It helps me to be intentional about taking photos and associating a memory with it. One of my favorite things has been to use it as a way to capture things that Winston has said. #wacsays I love looking back and seeing all of the photos of #winstonandhisjammies or #loveourgirllulu and nowadays #wacandtac. A byproduct of this is that I have a really good way to look back and be grateful.
Over the years I have developed what now has the term Instafriends. Never would I have imagined to have found amazing prayer partners and encouragers, ladies who make me laugh and inspire me through an app designed around sharing photos. There are quite a few ladies who I text and email on a regular basis and look forward to hugging their necks in person some day! Being part of chat loops and blog link ups has given me opportunities to develop relationships that I hold as dear.
Instagramming opens you up to sharing of your life with an audience. With this platform a user can influence their readers. With Instagram I am able to offer encouragement, post a goofy video to watch {and hopefully have a giggle at!}, do fun giveaways, share favorite things that we love and use daily, share what the Lord is teaching me, suggest recipes and many more little things. It's been a fun and unique way for me to share and preserve bits and pieces of what our days are like during each stage of life.
Sure, I can scroll through my Instagram feed and look at these photos... but truly there are times in the week when I sit on the couch and thumb through the pages. I enjoy looking at the photos and allowing myself to get wrapped up in the memories of the days past. It warms my heart. And Winston loves looking at them just a much as I do!
How about you? I'd love to hear if you Instagram and why you do it. There are so many wonderful reasons to use this app! Leave your IG handle and I'll give you a follow!