Old people

  Yesterday I wrote about a gift from my granddaughter. It was a picture of my home and on the back of that she had hand-written, in cursive, her feelings about coming to grandma's and grandpa's house. It was very touching. In her short narrative she mentioned how I had so many pictures of "old" people on my walls and would tell her stories about them. I was amused by that and pleased as well. At least I know she has been listening. And she's not wrong, I do have lots of pictures of "old" people on my walls. Pictures of the ancestors and some of the things those ancestors owned, used, or had collected themselves sit on the shelves. It's a crowded space I live in and would be regardless of the size of the room. Some would call it cluttered, but I enjoy it. At my age I make new discoveries almost every day! My attic holds many mysteries I wonder what I put up there. But it's always an adventure finding the things I know are there, somewhere.

  It's been said a cluttered desk is the sign of a busy mind. I'm going to say that must be true given the state of my desk and surrounding area. I have stuff everywhere. All the desk drawers are full, and I've brought in extra drawers for the overflow. The wires behind my desk look like those pictures of an Indian phone center you see on Facebook. But yes, it is the photographs that dominate. The truth is I have fewer on the walls now than I did a few years ago. I have a couple of totes full of framed pictures waiting to be put back up. My wife is quite tolerant of this obsession of mine, but she does draw the line every once in a while. Fortunately for me she doesn't mind the clutter as much as some others might.     Some folks love history, love to read about it and study it. I live in it. All the pictures of the "old" people are reminders to me. A great number of those folks passed long before my birth. Still, I can hear their stories when I look at those photographs. Ancestry.com and the online capability to search old newspapers and other documents feed this. I have learned little stories, incidents in those people's lives that would otherwise have been lost. From those clues I can assemble a piece of their lives and I'm fascinated with that. We all live on only by the stories that are told after our passing. We don't get to choose those stories; however, they are always told by another. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but someone has to give it a voice. 

  Among the pictures I do have on the wall are my parents. To my granddaughter, old people. My mother held her when she was born but she doesn't have any memory of meeting her. My dad was gone before that, before any of the grandchildren were born. As a result, all they know about them are the stories I've told. Not old people to me but certainly among the old people on the wall. There are plenty of pictures of the grandkids too. Pictures from when they were just babies to them graduating college. Dance recitals and ball games, awards and achievements all proudly displayed on my walls. A living history in my eyes.

  We are what we leave behind. If we can leave memories for others to enjoy, that is the best legacy of all. In memories we can find comfort and contentment. Things don't change in our memories unless we desire to make those changes. That's the best part of making memories, you really do get to choose. I'm comforted by my memories. I've stripped away reality and live with what remains. That is my truth. I'll be leaving lots of reminders! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Call my clutter a precaution. I don't want to take any chances. 

  Every photograph ever taken captured a moment in time. An instant really. Like the advertisement said, "these are the moments of your lives" I'm holding onto every second! I can't show my granddaughter the future, that is for her to see, but I can show her the past. Sharing memories is like sowing seeds. The hope being they take root, flourish, and create more seeds. An unending supply of comfort in difficult times. A nurturing of the soul. I have been nurtured by the past, it's why I'm living today. Kodak moments? Sometimes the only picture taken is with our mind and memory. Those are the best ones; the others can sometimes just be "old people."