What better time, said the current grandfather, to push yourself to think think think about when you are decades older than now, and will wonder about all those things you wish you knew and you never asked about, and can no longer ask about. - Kurt Rheinheimer, Blue Ridge Country magazine October 2020.
Found It!
The picture is exactly as I remember - faded, imposing White House, tall black fence, and little kids.
My family has accumulated pictures and photo albums from 3 generations. My mother’s mother, my father’s mother, and my parent's pictures have all joined mine.
Recently I came upon pictures and albums in the recesses of storage. 2 pictures immediately dropped from the recesses of my mind: a picture of me and my cousin, Jeannie, at the White House and a picture of Louie Pouie at the Baltimore Zoo. In the year of COVID, I have taken up the challenge of purging and finding Jeannie and Louie.
My grandmothers were born in 1899 and 1904 and my parents died in 2013 and 2017 - over 100 years of pictures. Pages of albums turn slowly as I enter their worlds. I study pictures of people I know, guessing the names of people I only recognize, and looking for clues of the year (hairdos, cars, and clothes). It is a blessing to find a photo with names on the back and a double blessing when the year is labeled.
Suddenly, me and Jeannie are staring at me - barely recognizable in a fuzzy photo. Found in a box labeled, in my mother’s cursive, “Mother’s Pictures.” Gently picking up the tiny picture, about 2x3, I see two shy children with wooden smiles. I slowly turn the picture over and written in my mother’s neat cursive is “June 1962.” John Kennedy is sitting in the White House.
Time falls away as I study more pictures and albums. Memories and smiles are found – good memories. Do people take pictures of bad memories?
Why do I remember the White House picture? I don’t remember being at the White House - maybe I remember the family sharing the picture. The picture is likely reproduced from a slide as my father always took slides. Maybe that accounts for the fuzziness and muddled color. Maybe it does not matter why I remember the picture, just the memory matters.
The picture search reveals a joy and a regret. There is joy in memories and sharing and perhaps boring another generation – my kids.
The regret? There is no one left to ask about these people and places. Last century, people did not randomly take pictures - pictures cost money - good money. Why were these particular pictures taken and lovingly placed in an album?
Grandparents and parents are gone. Rarely do I not know anyone in a picture - after all these people are family. But who are the others? No doubt these unknown folk are special and had an influence on my grandparents or my parents. Maybe they are part who I am?
I wish I had asked more. It's so hard to throw away pictures.
How about you? What will you ask? Share a Story
Second Helping
Oh, and what about and who is Louie Pouie? That's another story - let's just say my father named him appropriately. I still have two boxes of my father’s slides to review - I hope Louie lives on in one of those boxes. I’ll let you know.
The Past Becomes So, and Fast: It’s Time to Jump on Time, Before it Gets Away by Kurt Rheinheimer, Blue Ridge Country,
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