Old Family Photos

My mom's 1st cousin Bryan and his boys Cole and Trey came to visit today. They live in Atlanta but I'd never met them before tonight. My mom's mom and Bryan's mom were sisters. They have both passed away now, though. I wasn't expecting them in town until tomorrow but they showed up while Chris and I were eating dinner with another couple at their home (thanks again, Nathan and Jennifer...we had a great time!). Bryan brought a bunch of old, old photos to share with us. I have always loved looking at old pictures, even if I don't know the people in the pictures but I especially love looking at them when I am related to the people in the pictures. My mom's mom passed away from a rare form of cancer when I was just 17 months old, and I've always wished I could have met her. I love looking at pictures of her; she was so beautiful. Her sister (and only sibling; Bryan's mom) passed away just a little over a year ago, and I'd never gotten the chance to meet her, either. Bryan brought pictures of my grandmother, his mom, my grandmother's parents, my grandmother's grandparents, etc. Looking at those pictures makes me wish there was a way I could travel back in time. Everything seemed so perfect. Women always had their hair in extravagant and perfectly placed hairdos; men were so perfectly groomed; children wore neatly ironed clothes with their hair in perfect curls or short, military-style cuts. I just wish for a day I could get lost in the world back in the 30s, 40s, or 50s. I feel like I can never find a picture of an ugly person from back then, haha. Everyone was just so beautiful and handsome! I hear so many stories from my mom of houses she lived in, family members she grew up with, places she went, etc., and it's nice to place faces with the names and see pictures of the places in the stories. Sometimes I don't feel like I take enough pictures of my journey through life. I want my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on to ooh and ahh over pictures I've taken that have been passed down. Everything will be so different in this world in just a few decades, and I want my family's future generations to admire how things "used to be." So, my goal (and I guess because the start of 2011 is in just 24 hours, this could be a new year's resolution) is to start taking more pictures of places I go and people/things I see. I already take a ton of pictures of Kylie because I have always wished there were more pictures of me as a baby and child but I want to venture out and take more pictures of myself, Chris, and just things and people I see through my journeys.

And, I encourage all of you to do the same. Even if you don't think you "look good" or "need to lose weight," don't let the opportunity to snap a picture (or get your picture taken) pass you by! None of us know the day we will leave this Earth, and I hate to think of regretting not taking a picture of someone (or someone not wanting me to take his or her picture), him or her passing away, and me having no physical reminder of them through a picture. So, the next time someone tells you to smile for the camera, don't worry about how you look! The people who see you now know how you look in person (just in case the picture is bad), and when your children, grandchildren, etc. look at the pictures later, they will think you look "weird" anyway! :)