As some here may be aware, I've been working on a family project. I discovered I was in possession of my mother's old post-WWII snapshot albums, and they needed rescuing so I removed the photos from the disintegrating backing paper and began scanning them into my computer.
I was able to work through the weekend at it, and in the end I converted well over a hundred photos. And while I was doing that I suddenly realized I wasn't just working, but
LOOKING. I was seeing the details of a time fifty and more years gone, but they were coming alive in front of me all over again.
I watched my young mother having fun with her friends, all of them laughing and having a good time. I saw my young father madly in love with her and neither of them afraid to show it for the camera.
I saw the youth of my big brother- it somewhat startled me to see him as a young child. He's the one who used to take me to the wrestling matches as a kid! He took me to the swimming hole and tried to teach me how to swim (I never did learn)! He was my hero and my best friend, and he died years too soon. But there he was in front of me, sitting in his high chair celebrating a birthday with a delicious cake.
Strangers. Friends. Relatives. Far away places.
MY FAMILY DID STUFF AND WENT PLACES. They had a whole life before I was born, and there it was just waiting for me to live over with them.
I hope you all have family albums. I hope you have photos of all your relatives and all your vacations. I hope you snap a new shot of your young children every single day- because if you don't do it now you NEVER will. And it'll all be lost in the mist of time, and nobody will ever see the things you've done.
A Young Wife
A Young Husband
A Young Family
Two Sisters
Fishing
The End