"Look at this photograph, every time I do it makes me laugh..." The words of Nickelback play through my head this morning. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words but it is not the words I am after. I have plenty of words. It is the video of a memory that the picture triggers for me. I am back to that moment for just an instant, feeling those feelings as if not a day has passed. Sometimes I can even smell the scents that my memory recorded for that moment.
For example, this picture of my dog and my rabbit, dressed up for Halloween. They were such a funny duo. Some would call them unlikely friends and yet knowing how gentle my dog is, it was not unlikely at all. This picture takes me back to the days before my rabbit passed; before my dog aged to the point of needing diapers.
One of the things I loved about my grandparents' house was the wall of photographs. The frames did not match, the photos were from all different eras, and it was a mix of candid and professional pictures. I could see the progression of my cousins and I aging right there on the wall. I could see my grandparents with their friends in their youth. It was a wall of joy, of love, and of change.
Grandma passed a few years ago now and Grandpa joined her last August. This week was the first time I have been in their home since my mom and her siblings began boxing things up. It smelled the same as it always has but everything felt off. There were no photographs on the wall. It was like the heart had been removed, a veil raised, and only a house remained in place of a home.
When I got home I took time to look around our home. We do not have a wall of photos but we have them up on bookshelves. There are the pictures of when my husband proposed to me. Pictures of a father-in-law I never met are paired with recent family pictures. There is the newborn photos of my daughter proudly displayed. Today I will go pick up our enlarged family portrait to hang in the dining room.
Printing out pictures is more rare these days as it is all stored on our phones. But how often do we go back to look? These photographs are more to me than decoration. They make this house a home. They make the stories come alive. And they fill me with emotion.
I'm grateful for photographs. I'm grateful for life on my walls and shelf. I'm grateful for the thousand words but more so for the emotion. I'm grateful to have gotten to be in my grandparents' house again so I could process and grieve the reality that they have moved on. I'm grateful to have my parents and family close. And I'm grateful for all our photographs that tell the story.
What are some of your favorite photographs? Do you have them displayed?
May today allow us to remember. May the photographs of today reflect love, Have a beautiful day!
For example, this picture of my dog and my rabbit, dressed up for Halloween. They were such a funny duo. Some would call them unlikely friends and yet knowing how gentle my dog is, it was not unlikely at all. This picture takes me back to the days before my rabbit passed; before my dog aged to the point of needing diapers.
One of the things I loved about my grandparents' house was the wall of photographs. The frames did not match, the photos were from all different eras, and it was a mix of candid and professional pictures. I could see the progression of my cousins and I aging right there on the wall. I could see my grandparents with their friends in their youth. It was a wall of joy, of love, and of change.
Grandma passed a few years ago now and Grandpa joined her last August. This week was the first time I have been in their home since my mom and her siblings began boxing things up. It smelled the same as it always has but everything felt off. There were no photographs on the wall. It was like the heart had been removed, a veil raised, and only a house remained in place of a home.
When I got home I took time to look around our home. We do not have a wall of photos but we have them up on bookshelves. There are the pictures of when my husband proposed to me. Pictures of a father-in-law I never met are paired with recent family pictures. There is the newborn photos of my daughter proudly displayed. Today I will go pick up our enlarged family portrait to hang in the dining room.
Printing out pictures is more rare these days as it is all stored on our phones. But how often do we go back to look? These photographs are more to me than decoration. They make this house a home. They make the stories come alive. And they fill me with emotion.
I'm grateful for photographs. I'm grateful for life on my walls and shelf. I'm grateful for the thousand words but more so for the emotion. I'm grateful to have gotten to be in my grandparents' house again so I could process and grieve the reality that they have moved on. I'm grateful to have my parents and family close. And I'm grateful for all our photographs that tell the story.
What are some of your favorite photographs? Do you have them displayed?
May today allow us to remember. May the photographs of today reflect love, Have a beautiful day!
RSS Feed
