Community Chat

[Lucky Charm]

We were lucky enough to have a good friend who was a professional photographer.  So many of our pictures are framed and hanging in our homes.

My absolute favorite is of me lounging across his Harley and he's standing behind and looking down at me.  I had that enlarged, redone in black and white and it's in our bedroom.

Another one is us in the ocean and he's holding me up over a crashing wave.  Every droplet of water is clear as anything.  I love the way we look, our expressions, the colors and the location was special, too.  I have that in a hallway leading to the back door.  I feel like I still look at it every time I come in.

I keep many photos of our grandkids around also.  (Camera shots) My latest project is to use 5 old windows from a house we're re-doing and placing pictures of each grandchild in the middle of the panes starting with when they were infants.

I love looking at old photos.  I'll never tire of it!  I'll never throw them away.  

[MoJoV]

@SeaMaiden what a lovely post. So many of us can relate to it! 

[blackhole99]

I come across my box of memories every year when I do a thorough cleaning of my closets. A bundle of letters from my husband when he was in Vietnam and then later when we were engaged, living in different states and he was working for the NSA. Our son's new baby book and the little stocking cap they put on him in the delivery room. Many old photos of family and friends, yes a life time of memories I was blessed enough to amass.

[Mominohio]

I think those of us that have no one to directly hand down this type of history to should know that in generations past, many old photos, letters, diaries etc. remain outside the family they came from, but still marking the history of our people, the nation (or any other nation they may have come from), the culture as it was at the time. 

Museums (little local ones) often come across such things from generations past, and love to have them. I know it is hard to think of any of those things belonging to our lifetime as being 'history' but they are and will be so even more as time passes. 

Saying that, I don't have too much advice as to what to do with them, but maybe someone else knows the type of places that would use old photos (look at WHAT is in them more so than just who...cars, businesses, streets and landscapes that change over time, or military uniforms, or inside places that change rapidly like hospitals or retail). Even having them donated to someplace like Goodwill after you are gone and people clean out (I used to work for them, and we got that sort of thing a lot), let those interested in the past pick them up and use them to pass on what life was like in a specific period of time. We would sell boxes of old photos and letters that people would use in crafting too.

I'm sure most would not like things that are too personal to be 'out there', but I've found some really fascinating pictures, letters, writings etc. in thrifts, antique stores, flea markets. It is sometimes used to document life in a certain era in books or in displays etc. 

Just a thought. People should do with them though, what they are most comfortable with.

[tends2dogs]

The thing about this younger generation, do they even have physical pictures that they can hold in their hands?  It seems like everything is on their phones.  Looking at someone elses phone pictures isn't pleasureable to me. 

Looking at pictures from my parent's and DH's parent's life is fun, but there are so many that we don't have a clue who the people are that are in them.  I find that a real shame.

I have made a point of writing dates and names on the back.  We sometimes wonder if our kids will really care to have them....????

[EastCoastGal]

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