Old Photos

I picked up the brown envelopes that held the old pictures.  Pictures that used to be in frames.  Pictures left over from portrait studios, and others.  What should I do with these?  I sure wasn't going to throw them away.  Hmm.  I remembered a suggestion my niece, Sherri, made several years ago as our Yoder family made plans for Thanksgiving dinner.  "Let's bring old photo albums and look at them!", she said.  I don't recall that anybody took her up on it -- we all probably just forgot about it.

So when I went to WalMart this week, I bought a large 3-ring photo album with the "sticky" pages covered with cellophane, and set about storing those old photos in a format for easy viewing.  I plan to take the album along to my brother's house next Thursday on Thanksgiving Day along with my butter horn rolls and stuffing.  It's good to laugh together, to visit "yesteryear", see how people have changed their hair styles and their looks. 

One thing leads to another.  I've unearthed my scrapbooking materials I purchased quite a number of years ago.  My guest room is a mess.  Beneath piles of extra pillows, a bathroom rug set, a lamp, three extra lamp shades, and a bag of old wooden blocks from my childhood, I opened a large suitcase.  It was filled with scrapbooks and numerous small photo albums whose pictures had begun to find their way into a Creative Memories decorative album.  A project that was put away and never finished is now resurfacing.

Ties to our past are important; they show us where we came from, and give us a sense of belonging, of inclusion, in a family.  History captured in photos and documents is indeed a thing of value.  I found a good article on the internet I want to share with you: http://familychronicle.com/LeavingLegacy.html  I've had a desire for some time to write and publish my memoirs, and will begin very soon.  Leaving a written legacy to my children and grandchildren is very important to me.  Now I really have to set about finishing that scrapbooking project!  Don't worry -- first I'll clean up the mess in my guest room; I'm moving that big suitcase full of scrapbooking materials out of the closet for easy access, and putting the pile of pillows, lamp, extra lamp shades, bathroom bath set and bag of blocks back in. :o)  Do you see what finding some old photos can lead to?

Copyright © 2011 Elaine Beachy