Moments We Can Hold On To
Flipping through an old photo album recently, I came across some snapshots taken with my old 110 camera. (Anybody remember those?) The pictures immediately took me back to the summer I was 8, when we took a family road trip to Florida. The main event of the trip was my uncle’s wedding, although I have only vague memories of it. More significant things, at least in my 8-year-old mind, happened on that trip. My parents had a 2-door Cutlass at that time- the car was pretty cool for its day. But getting out of the back seat required flipping the front seat forward. My sister hopped out first. But instead of getting out on the other side, I followed her. I had a loose tooth that was barely hanging in there. You can guess what happened next- as I was climbing out, the front seat flipped back, knocking me and my tooth for a loop! It was a memorable stop at Burger King. The more infamous incident – never to be forgotten by anyone in the family- was the day of my uncle’s wedding. My sister and I were allowed to bring one doll with us to the wedding, so naturally the dolls had new dresses. And the dresses needed to be ironed, so out came the iron. To this day, I still don’t know exactly how it happened, but as my sister was ironing her doll’s dress, the iron suddenly landed on top of her arm. Face down. I can still see it. We screamed. Adults came running. Adults screamed. First aid was administered, and a trip to the ER followed. Needless to say, it was a long time before we were allowed to use the iron again. The iron incident, in my memory, eclipsed anything else that happened that day. So the only way I really have to remember the wedding is via photographs. I wish I could remember taking the ones I took with my own little camera. (I do know that in every single photo anyone has from the wedding, my sister’s arm is missing- she hid it behind her back all night because she didn’t want anyone to see the bandage!) At any rate, I’m grateful for those silly out-of-focus photos, because they jog my memory of that day. We all have days like that from our past. The next time you have a few minutes, take a few of your old photos out and look, I mean really look, at them. And if all you’ve got recently are 4” photos on your phone? Send them off and have some prints made. Hold those moments in your hands. You’ll enjoy them now, and they’ll...
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