Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Flashback to my Favorite Moment of Christmas 2017

Our three sons playing a tune together on the BIG piano.


(Youngest son's fashion statement is actually a survival technique for the itchy patch of poison ivy he acquired hiking around the lake!)

This is an especially special picture because  a) 3 very different sons I adore together  b) last Christmas before oldest son and wife move to New Mexico  c) last Christmas in that house -- #20!

There was a moment a few days after Christmas when I thought I had lost all my pictures -- including this one -- and I had a come-apart. 

As much as this move is exactly what we want, it still comes swaddled in a lot of loss. Downsizing is hard for a sentimental gal like me! But I am learning that all these things -- are just things. What they represent -- their meaning -- is inside me.

One way of coping as I've bagged and boxed, has been to take a picture. A picture doesn't take up any space, and it's a way to hold on to a memory of something. (Which is why I was devastated to think I'd lost all the pictures I've taken recently!) 

Funny thing: I have this memory of my father from just two months before he died, when he said, "sometimes I like the picture better than the thing." He was a lifelong photographer, and in that moment he was asking me to take a photo of him with a pair of pants that were now far too large, before we dropped them at a donation site. 

Papa was teaching me right up to the end, and in fact is still teaching me now! And you know what? I don't need a picture of that. It's imprinted on my heart. xo

5 comments:

  1. Delightful pictures and wise words!

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  2. Sometimes things are too big for us, and we need to say goodbye. Sniff. Wise papa, yours. Lots of Love, Irene. Such a joyous photo! xxxx

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  3. Love the pic of your boys having fun together! And the one of your sweet Papa with his too large britches. So lovely to have his teachings imprinted on your heart! Blessings as you continue the downsizing process and prep for your move to the lake.

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  4. The picture of your sons so happy is wonderful to see, Irene, and imagine what that was for them and for you. Your Papa, like all our parents, are indeed in our hearts, no matter the pictures gone. I've made the move you're making & wishing you lots of hugs in the goodbyes. One way II began to look at it after I moved was that I didn't miss all the "stuff" I left behind, but the "times" that I loved when I was there.

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  5. These transitions are hard. Thinking of you!

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