36,743

so it's time I admit to my obsession. yes, as of today I have 36,743 photos in my iphoto library. when i found photos being ruined by a leaky air unit in our garage, i initiated a search and rescue, transferring all photos from their older decrepit albums into wonderful 2-up or 3-up journal albums. this is an ongoing project with many variants, preferably one album per year, as well as one album per child, to be filled with a catalogue of their growing-up years. the magnitude of  being hit by a hurricane is daunting, but the boxes of albums i would carry on my back is ridiculous. here is where i stumbled upon the addiction of digitizing all these years of photos, as well as memorabilia, to be stored safely within my computer in one manageable place. when we purchased a new fax machine i requested a scanner and  alas, scanner mania was born. i offer to scan every photo any friend or member of my family shows me -sisters, cousins, aunts, mom, in-laws, all. then they have to be edited and organized and perhaps restored and retouched. the bulk of this library is comprised of day to day memories, my family archives more or less. slow to give up my film canisters, I only began digital photography 22 months ago, and that of course has ballooned my current collection with so much possibility. and i even know to have that external hard drive to hold them all, but it's like enjoying all the marbles in the ring at once when i can scroll and see 535 events in my mac, housing all this accomplishment!