A picture is worth a thousand words

If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with pictures. I love looking through them, displaying them in my house, and taking them. A picture is that snap-shot of a moment in time, frozen forever. Proof that it happened. Proof that you were there.

My Grandfather died when I was 6 months old. I do not remember the way he smelled, or what his voice or laugh sounded like. I do know what he looked like, from pictures. I have seen him in crazy outfits that he wore, I have seen him dancing with my Grandmother, I have seen him in his military uniform. I have studied his face and picked out characteristics that my cousins and I have inhertited from him. I have marveled at how much my father resembles him. Although I will never get to hear his voice or see him smile, having access to these pictures gives me incite into who he was and helps me to close the gap.

Growing up, I can remember sitting on the floor of my Aunt's spare room and pouring through her picture albums. She had what seemed like hundreds. Pictures of her, my dad and their siblings when they were young, pictures of my grandparents, pictures of birthday parties and holiday parties. Pictures of my cousins and I. I loved looking through and seeing how much things had changed, how different people and places looked now. Laughing at the hair and the clothes and, of course, the green shag carpet my Grandmother had in the dining room. I loved seeing pictures of my parents before they were parents. These albums,
and the pages and pages of colored pictures that they contain are my history. They show me who and where I came from. After spending time looking through picture after picture, I have learned a little about myself.

There is the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words", but to me they are worth even more then that. Pictures are reminders of where we have been, they show us those that have gone before us and those that are coming behind. They can take us back to a moment in time that has long passed and remind us of those that have gone. One day, I hope that Autumn will enjoy going through the pictures that I have taken. Hopefully, they will help her learn something about herself.