“A strange thing is a memory, and hope; one looks backward, and the other forward; one is of today, the other of tomorrow. Memory is history recorded in our brain, memory is a painter, it paints pictures of the past and of the day.” – Grandma Moses
Nowhere is a memory better captured than in a photograph.
For some families, their legacy in pictures is chronicled in hard-covered, highly organized photo albums, haphazardly tossed in shoe boxes and old dresser draws, or arranged in clearly defined folders on local hard drives.
Regardless of how you choose to store and ultimately retrieve these photographs, they provide you with a memory, trigger an emotion and remind you of those who’ve sacrificed so much so that the next generation could prosper.
My father-in-law is a computer geek (sorry dad – I call them as I see them) and much of the family’s legacy in pictures is now arranged in clearly defined folders on his local hard drive. Many have been photo corrected due to age and poor quality, which provides an everlasting memory for everyone to enjoy for years to come.
But even this computer geek can appreciate the art of displaying photographs in frames all over his home. There’s one particular wall that I’m always drawn to on our weekly visits.
It’s a series of three large collage frames filled with photographs of the past and the present. Each frame, in its own way, is capturing a memory, a smile, an embrace, a laugh, a kiss – in short, a life that no longer exists as it once did.
They are an invaluable window into a storied past – a cornucopia of family and friends spanning the decades of a life well lived.
I’m happy to say that my own home features such a cornucopia as well. Stand-alone frames adorn each and every room as though cherished individuals from my past are always around to remind me how much I was loved.
What kind of pictures fill your home?
Do they only capture your present, while sadly ignoring your past?
Or do they pay homage to the memory of those who’ve greatly influenced your life?
Mehmet Murat Ildan once said, “If tomorrow will be the end of the world, I will spend my today by looking at the pictures of my past.”
Because it is there where you’ll find a memory, a smile, an embrace, a laugh, a kiss – in short, a life.
