I think everyone has a favourite photo of themselves. And by photo, I don’t mean a selfie with perfect lighting that makes you go, “that’s the one,” before uploading it to every social media platform you’re on.

No. I’m talking about the days when bringing your memory card to Wal-Mart was a thing. In the mid-2000s when owning a digital camera was all the rage. Taking iPhone photos at a club? That was frowned upon. In fact, anyone trying even remotely to take a photo at a concert with their phone was instantly ostracized.

And while now, that may be the new norm, there’s something about holding a physical photo and having a memory that was made tangible. One that perfectly captured a moment and one that’s free of filters and photoshopped edits that you find every so often forgotten in a drawer.

For me, it’s one specifically that reminds me of better days. Ones that involved drinking cheap whiskey and pink champagne out of water bottles before walking triumphantly into a bar and getting adorned with a glorious “X” on each hand in permanent marker. The mark that was utilized as a prize to show off what was an epic night to my friends the next day in class.

And while I don’t still drink water bottles filled with cheap whiskey or pink champagne, that photo kind of makes me wish I could.

The photo itself, taken by my best friend, captured my beaming smile in a moment that caught me off guard in a bar as I waited for a band to hit the stage. I was wearing my signature all-black attire, Converse and was holding a digital camera that I always seemed to have in my hand.

That’s the thing about looking back, though. I mean, could I really see myself drinking pink champagne out of a water bottle in public at this stage in my life? Probably. But I guess that means the photo doesn’t remind me of better days at all, just really, really, good ones.

As a frosh in university, the possibilities of life seemed endless; and going to see live bands was one of the things that made that feeling possible for me.

So, even though I still have the same hair and my go-to look is still to dress in all-black attire and Converse, I no longer carry that digital camera in my hand.

That beaming smile, though? It still makes its appearance every so often when I find that photo in the back of my drawer.

L