Photographic Treasures

I finally got all the pictures (that I've found so far) in bins and stored in my closet.  My niece, who is getting married on New Year's Eve, wanted a picture of her grandparents' (my parents') wedding day.  Since I was still sorting through photos, I found an entire album of their wedding day.  I did send the formal picture of my parents and their attendants, but I also included a picture of my mother giving my father a flirty little look at the reception:

It was October 28, 1950.  My mother was 18 years old at the time.  My father was not quite 20.  They'd known each other for four years already.  There's a pretty nifty story to their meeting, but I'll save that for another day.

I've found a lot of old pictures.  By "old" I mean before my siblings were married and had kids.  Some are really old.  Like the one of my father parent's wedding day, January 1930!  There are a lot of pictures from when my oldest brother was a toddler.  And quite of few of Christmases at my paternal grandparents' house. My dad had gotten a new camera and he made good use of it.

This is just four families of cousins.  That's me in front, second from left.  I was about 5.
The really tall kid in back is my oldest brother, who was about 14!

Then there are the "newer" pictures.  This ones of my nieces and nephews when they were small in the early 80's.  Then the pictures of my daughter, who was born in 1987.  And, of course, pictures throughout all the years of various pets that have enriched our lives.

Every photo is a treasure.  Even photos I found of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, or HWSNBN, for short.  HWSNBN is the person I threw away my life on.  Okay, that sounds a little overdramatic, but that's the way I felt when it was all over.  Fifteen months was gone and I could never go back to what I was before.  Immediately following HWSNBN, was my daughter's father.  Uh, yeah, that makes him the rebound guy.  I found a couple of him, too.  The daddy wasn't such a bad time.  Stupid, sure, but not bad.  So why did I keep the two pics of HWSNBN?  I'm not sure.  One is of the two of us at a friend's wedding.  I look really good in it, so I tell myself I'll scan it in and crop him out.  Maybe I will, too.  The photo of HWSNBN by himself, tho, I did have in my hand and held it over the wastebasket.  Like I said, I don't know why I didn't drop it in.  When I go through the pictures again to actually organize them, I will toss it.  Probably.

Anyway, all the pictures, whether of family, friends or worthless scum-sucking ex-lovers (not that I'm bitter or anything) tell of my history.  They show me where I've been and who was there with me.  I don't want to dwell in the past, but I think it's important to remember it.

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. 

George Washington