Replies

I’ve been doing that a lot lately because of age and health and a desire to get things organized for my children and grandchildren. It’s a worthwhile endeavor that grounds you I think.

An aside, please allow me this one comment. Today is the 20th anniversary of my signing on with FR and I just couldn’t help from wanting to mark that in some way. I quit posting in April 2017 and haven’t posted since then but since my membership wasn’t cancelled I wanted to drop by and make a comment of passing. Your thread about family photos seemed appropriate. Thank you for your indulgence.

Land sakes, son, don’t be shy. You don’t have to post to be welcome, but I’m sure a lot of other FR people have probably missed you.

(Don’t know you personally, but I remember seeing your posts in the past, and must have appreciated them enough to recognize your handle)

Anyway, as to the picture topic ... How many do you have?

I have a few boxes of pictures I got from my Mom when she passed. Sadly, the girls didn’t like me, so I don’t really have to worry about the kids/grandkids; however, I do have a cousin who does the scrapbooking thing, and I think I will send them to her at some point.

Thing is, what are those pictures? When you look at them, do they bring a feeling of connection, or is it more like (and this is going to sound cruel, but it is what it is) “dead people I don’t know”?

I have a picture of my great grandmom & pop with a freshly killed deer on the fender of their car, I bet it was tasty. If it weren’t for the fact that my (wee at the time) Mom & aunt are in the picture too, it would be meaningless to me.

Thanks to digital cameras and facebook and all that crap these days, kids (and adults) are awash in pictures and images. People go on vacation and take hundreds of pictures, and then shove them in a hole on their computer and forget about them. Or share a few on facespace and forget about them.

Can your pictures compete with that? Are you wasting your time? Am I? (Probably, I’m bloviating...)

Anyway, what I’d really suggest is picking out a dozen or two ‘favorites’, scanning those and waving them at the kids/grandkids via email/facespace, whatever. See who is interested. If they’re really interested, do more, see if they want originals.

If not, you can still scan/scrapbook/laminate them anyway, but just be aware that you’re probably only doing it for your own enjoyment.

Also, be aware that as time goes by, the kids feelings may change.

The biggest regret I have at this point is that a lot of the pictures I’ve gotten are unlabeled, and I have absolutely no idea who the people are in the pictures. Sadly, that’s how it is.

Maybe I’ll box some of mine up and send them off to the cousin this weekend. Maybe not. :P