52 Ancestors :: Week 2: Favorite Photo

Question: How do you torture a family historian?
Answer: Ask them to pick a favorite photo!

But seriously, this challenge was really hard! I love them all! I think photography is the reason why I have spent so much of my life thinking about the passage of time... how it is linear and why we can't go back. How the people in those old black & white photos experienced their surroundings and their sense of time in the same way that I do now. The only way to capture our own experience it is to take a picture, or make a recording. This may not slow time down, or allow us to go back, but it does allow a return trip through our memories, or, for those who were never there, a brief glimpse into the past. 

I have to admit that I spent way too much time on this challenge. I have been in and out of my genealogy files, the photos on my computer, and even the Facebook pages of my siblings looking for just the right photo. There were several contenders! I finally went with the one which brings me to tearful laughing every time I look at it. Behold:

I can't tell you how much I love my siblings. My aunt says that we were like a pile of puppies back in the day, which is pretty spot on. We had a great time growing up, and, as you can see, we are still game for a little fun. The original photo was taken around Christmas in 1983, just a few months after we moved from Texas to Utah. We were in our basement, sitting on what we called "the lion rug" which was a giant, stuffed, lion-shaped patchwork pillow (note the various colors of shag - beautiful!), which my mom made. My brother and I were wearing knitted slippers made by a woman named "Grandma Aamodt," who was my dad's uncle's mother-in-law. I didn't realize it then, but my time as the tallest sibling was already ticking.

I was able to be home with my family the winter of 2013, so we decided to recreate the photo, 30 years later. Ha! We had so much fun with the recreation - just that photo alone brings back great memories. I'm the shortest one now, by far - my "baby" brother is now 6'5"! I'm grateful that my parents took so many photos of us while we were growing up. Knowing how much their photos have impacted my life helps me to remember to stop and take pictures of my own children. Who knows what they will be recreating 30 years from now?!