Ten years ago my best friend died of cancer. It all happened very fast and was pretty unbelievable. In a whirlwind her husband was charged with the terrible task of picking out a grave plot, a headstone and planning a funeral. All that on top of caring for two young girls and making sure he didn't lose his full time job.



About two days after she passed away my husband and I stopped by his house to drop off a meal. He was in the dining room, photographs spread all over the table, sobbing. " I want the right ones," he was saying, "I want the ones where people will see her... the real her." He was intent on getting a video of various photos of his young wife's life together for the funeral so that everyone would remember what a wonderful woman she was. Back in those days that was no easy task.

Photographs hold powerful memories. That's why we all have so many of them in boxes in our closets, under our beds and in our basements.

And that's why the scrapbooking trend continues to grow at an enormous rate. People want to keep their photos for generations. They want those family memories to stay alive for their progeny and beyond.

If you're like my friend and like me, many of your photos are bent, old and just plain tired looking. It's estimated that there are billions of photographs stuck in shoe and other boxes all over the world because people want to hang onto them. But shoeboxes are not the best places for your photos. At the very least, you should have your pictures in archival boxes and preferably in archival safe photo albums and scrapbooks.

But did you know that there's another way now to keep your old print photos safe. With all the digital imaging companies out there and scanners, the best way to insure that those photos are kept for many generations to come is to store them digitally. Several companies on the Internet will convert your print pictures to digital and there are even companies that will store copies of the digital images in vaults for a lifetime. Before you take the time to scrapbook them, you'd be wise to take this additional step in photo archiving.

But don't just trust your hard drive or CDs. Hard drives can crash and CDs can break or be scratched. Make sure you find a good lifetime storage company so that those memories will be easy to access should something happen with your computer.

Another great benefit to digitizing your old paper prints is that they can be easily shared with others. Once you've scanned and uploaded them to an online photo sharing site, you can email those photos to loved ones all over the world. Imagine all the smiles and joy as the memories of days pass are rekindled for friends and family alike. Most of these companies also allow you to make not only prints but products with those pictures as well. And even a DVD like my friend wanted for his wife's funeral.

Many scrapbook instructors encourage their clients to start scrapbooking from the current pictures and move backward in time, so the task doesn't seem so overwhelming. I'd like to suggest for a project like this, that you start from the beginning - your oldest paper photos - and move forward. Take a 15-minute time slot one day a month and work through 20, 50 or even 100 pictures, turning them into digital imagines and archiving them. Imagine the joy you'll have as you remember old times, old friends and fun memories.

Take the time to save your photos. Your children's great-grandchildren will be glad you did.