Picture This
One of my favorite performers is Jim Brickman. Jim comes to the Columbia area pretty often and I’ve attended every one of his concerts. People call him the romantic pianist. Since I am a romantic at heart, it really appeals to my senses to hear him. I can’t wait for him to get here again in December.
On a good day, I like to think I can play the piano like Jim. When I’m relaxed and – preferably in my blue jeans and barefooted – I can tickle the keyboard with some semblance of Brickman style and not embarrass myself too much.
One of Jim’s cds is called “Picture This.” I will often listen to the cd and pick out the tunes on the piano while the songs play. On this particular cd there is also a song by the same name. While I literally like every song on that cd, “Picture This” is my favorite.
Recently, while listening to the songs and playing along, I thought about all the pictures I had in boxes in the closets upstairs. I’ve been saying for years I was going to go through those and put them in books, etc.
I bet you may have those same kinds of boxes in your closet or attic.
That next evening, I decided to begin tackling the task of going through the pictures in all 16 boxes. Included in them were also years worth of sermons, bulletins and memorabilia my deceased husband had meticulously kept since he began preaching, things from my high school and college years, baby stuff for us as well as our two boys and things from the more recent years of my life.
“I could die of old age before I get all this done.” I said. “There must be 100 years worth of pictures in here.”
Determined to take care of the task, though, set out to the store to get 12 three inch notebooks. “That should be enough.” I said. To know me is to be sure that, if I set my mind on something, it was going to get done.
With my “Picture This” Brickman cd on, I began the process of sorting the pictures by years. I had to guess dates on some of the pictures. Many were so old there were no dates or the dates were worn off. I discovered things in these boxes I was not even aware I had. It was quite an experience going through all of them. Let’s just say I have almost worn out that cd working on this project!
Then there were the tin types.
Yes, we had some all the way back to the late 1880s when the Williams boys married the Wells sisters. From the looks of the sisters, none of them were very happy…they all had that solemn stare on their faces with the tight hairdos and black dresses.
There were no pictures of the men. I guess they were working or hunting while the ladies took the picture or maybe they just wanted to be away from all of that while it was going on!
Seven months later I completed this memory book task with – not 12 – but 38 three inch wide notebooks packed with everything you could imagine. There is enough family history here to last a lifetime…all 127 years worth of it. Each volume has “The Cook Book of Family Memories” and the year(s) on the outside cover so one can quickly reach for the year of choice.
Since I love to take pictures as well, I have books that are filling up fast. I’m determined, however, not to let them pile up for another 100 years before I do something constructive with them.
There are no more boxes of pictures anywhere in the house now. It’s a good feeling to have sorted through all those, shared the ones I didn’t want to keep with other family members, and made room for more things in the closet.
I am pleased that I can turn on my “Picture This” cd, take out any year’s family memories book, and get a glimpse into times past as I savor the memories of the hours it took to complete the task. The books have an added treasure to them for me as I have included some of my own written stories to the appropriate years’ collection.
At family gatherings now I often find folks in the office looking through the books and remembering the good times. My son will frequently take friends back to the family books to show them some of his favorite pictures and items from his life. My goodness, there are almost 24 years worth of his things alone!
My wish for you today: That you find some way to preserve your family pictures and memorabilia if you are so fortunate to have them. The worse thing you could do is die and leave them for family members to sort though when they have no idea who or what they came from.
With the holidays fast approaching, it could be a delightful holiday activity to go through things you’ve collected with your extended family. That activity would probably spawn some lively conversations and bring back some great memories. Just make sure you put on some great music while you do it. It will be even more fun then!
~Joellen