Retrospective-2021
“Nothing
is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.”
L.M.
Montgomery
Yesterday,
I was scrabbling through a drawer looking for property tax papers and came upon
a handful of old photographs. I’ll bet you are one of those people who makes photo albums with dates, names, and places along with a few notes about what fun
you had that day. I am not so much—actually, I'm not at all. I have photos hiding
in almost every box and drawer in the house, and when I find them, I sit down
and take a little memory break. It’s like discovering grandma’s wedding ring in
a box of nails—a treasure worth celebrating.
Remember
the days before “the cloud?” Before every minute of our lives was captured on
our smart phones, including what we had for breakfast. We snapped photos and
had them printed at the drugstore. Sometimes they were grainy and blurry and
sometimes the people in the photo had red eyes that made them look like
zombies. But forevermore, you could hold that piece of paper in your hands and
remember that moment. Now people get nice crisp photos on their phones but
spend ten minutes scrolling through a million others to find the one they’re
looking for. And while we’re trying to examine it, the phone shuts off and you
have to go through the whole thing again.
This snapshot
was taken at the Birmingham Zoo when my sons were about 3 and 10. It’s one of
my favorite pictures of them—a memory of how playful and caring they were to
each other then and still are. I don’t remember Jake ever being hateful to Ian
just because he was an annoying little brother. Compare it to this photo of my
mother (in the blue) and her only sister, Lane. Photos show our history even when
they don’t mean to. Mother and her sister were always closely connected in
life, but never truly close.
Looking
back through old photos is something my cousin, Sandy, and I do when we are together.
We share memories—she’s usually spot-on accurate and I’m almost never. She has
that clear, first-child head about her that seems to record every detail of the
scene and what transpired there, while I am wafting around in the emotional
content. I’ll bet you know what I mean.
So, we
are once again stepping into the holiday season—whichever holiday we celebrate.
Families will be gathering; food will be consumed, and there’s always that sated
lull afterward. That’s a great time to haul out a box (or a book for those of
you who are organized) of old photos and reminisce together. It’s the way we
recall the people who came before us and include them in our celebration. We
tell their stories and remember our lives together. It bonds us, increases our
knowledge of each other and ourselves—past, present, and future—and isn’t that
what this season is all about?
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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