Today was Parents Day at our daughter’s YMCA day camp. Usually, she takes the camp bus, but I drove her this morning, and we went canoeing.

It was a good morning — kind of overcast, but that was OK, because it kept things cool. The camp is next to a lake, and there were probably 100 other parents on the beach, noshing on bagels and pastries and waiting with their kids for a turn on the water. While we stood barefoot in the sand, my 10-year-old pointed out girls she knew (including “the mean one”) and, suddenly, I remembered:

I forgot my camera.

For someone who enjoys taking pictures as much as I do, that’s a bad feeling. I thought, here we are, my daughter and me, having this little adventure, and we won’t have any pictures.

Then, I remembered something I’d told my mom years ago, when our daughter was still a baby and Mom wouldn’t stop taking pictures of her:

This isn’t a photo op. Put down the camera and just enjoy yourself.

I treasure our family pictures. If the house was on fire, and I could save one thing, I’d save our pictures and videos. It’s easy to forget how fast our kids are growing up until I come across an old picture, or not even an old picture. Pictures remind me how much they’ve changed since last summer, since Christmas, even.

Still, I should remember to forget my camera more often and just enjoy myself.

Before we pushed out into the water, one of the camp counselors called out, “Smile!” and snapped our picture. (Do digital cameras snap?) The Y does a good job of posting pictures on the camp website. I told my wife. She’ll want to see it, because she couldn’t be there, but I was.