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What’s Left – Friday Fictioneers

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It’s a glorious Wednesday out there, I’m not working and I’m on slo-mo. Zeke is not pleased with me so before he decides I am no longer his buddy, I better send this out into the ether, grab his leash and get a move on before the sun disappears!  Thanks always to Rochelle for hosting this weekly party and thank you to Ted Strutz for sending most of us down memory lane. (I assume, which is not smart, but I never claimed to be.)

©Ted Strutz

Click me! Click me!

 

What’s Left

I’ve since gone digital, but I still prefer the old pictures. In all their glorious mess. You know what I mean, don’t you?

Most of us have them. Boxes of old photographs. I have Dad’s, with so few pictures of him as a kid. My aunt has my grandmother’s. Mom has “gifted’ me with hers, as she wants me to scan each one into digital form ~ I must start before it’s too late. And I have my own. Filled with memories, still to be sorted.

In all those boxes, dates and names are a scarcity.

And this is what’s left.

107 thoughts on “What’s Left – Friday Fictioneers”

  4. And it is glorious indeed!
    My mother recently wanted to throw away (!!!) a bag full of photos and negatives that weren’t sorted and she no longer wanted to keep. Fortunately one of my sisters stopped by that day and ‘saved’ the bag of photos! Whatever is there is worth going through and sorting through and digitizing some. (I still can’t believe she thought to just toss’em!!!)
    XOXO
    Na’ama

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Dear Dale,

    Oh how well I relate to your story. I have piles of falling-apart albums and boxes of scattered photos. The idea of organizing them seems impossible. I hope Zeke and you enjoyed your walk. 😀 Good one.

    Shalom and lotsa memorable hugs,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Rochelle,

      I look at my own boxes, then my mother’s 3-4 boxes, then my fathers mega box and I admit to feeling rather overwhelmed!

      I need to retire 😉

      Shalom and lotsa love,

      Dale

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Q,

    I missed the whole digital move that photographs did. Of course, I also missed most of the rest of it as well, LOL!

    The old black and white photographs are cool. And to think the Polaroids are considered “Antique” nowadays is pretty hilarious, but they are! I mean, that was like magic back in the day, that a photograph could be taken semi-instantly.

    You’ve done an exceptional job with your photographs. I don’t know how you keep them straight, to tell you the truth.

    B

    Liked by 1 person

  12. The box reminds me of my mother’s collection. Out of which I took my share. But I’m far too organised to have mine jumbled all together in a box. Mine are in albums. And there are huge gaps in those albums where my daughter have swiped them. Humph.

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  16. I have that same feeling about the boxes and boxes of unlabeled photographs: both a blessing and a burden. Even worse,I know that my mother has recently decently to “clean through” her huge stacks and books of photos (from her/us, and from both sets of grandparents) — which is good, don’t leave it to me! But also bad, in that I don’t know if she’s already tossed ones that I would have wanted to keep. Well, better that then have to sort through thousands of photos of people I barely recognize.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. This is one everyone can relate to. How I wish we all had placed dates and places and names to all the photos. Life would be so much less stressful. Especially on all the ancestors that you can’t identify but know you want them. Oh well…..

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Going through old photos can tug on the heartstrings, both joyfully or with deep sadness. I rarely get those same feelings when they’re digital. Which is probably why I have gigantic boxes of actual photos. Even the thought of scanning all those is overwhelming. Hope Zeke enjoyed his outing.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. We have boxes of old photos from Donn”s mom. Ages ago we asked her to sit down and help us label them. “Too busy,” said she. Well, now she’s gone and I’m going to turn my favorites into greeting cards, the rest have gone into the trash. You started a whirlwind of memories among FF readers with your story. Well done!

    Liked by 1 person

  23. A good one… just to think.. “this is all that’s left” very sobering thought. Maybe I’ll just go home and pitch them all! Except maybe a few of my Hubby and I… the only family I care to remember.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. We’re of like mind on this one, Dale. Something so much more real and permanent about a photo you can hold. And yet, you’re ahead of me. I’m digital now (for years) but the boys’ childhoods are in albums. Can’t find the gumption or the time for all that scanning. I hope you can!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. there is always something emotional, be it excitement or curiosity, about blowing the dust off an old box from the attic. To open the lid and search through the collection of photos, once that go back years and years. They are permanent and seem secretive hiding the past. Whereas the digital records are accessible for anyone who wishes a copy.
    Still I love a paper copy.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Old photos are a treasure, aren’t they? But our current digital images tend to be far superior because we get so much practice. Interesting image – out with phone and snap. What’s that bug? Snap. Hey, look Dale’s fallen in! Snap. Lotsa practice.

    Liked by 1 person

    • They are. And yes, I have LOTS of practice with both digital and the old roll of film as my boxes can attest.
      Lotsa and lotsa and lotsa practice!

      Like

  29. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to read so many wonderful stories from viewing a photograph? And, here we are pondering about our own photographs. How to sort them? Who are some of the unfamiliar people in them? Are they worth sorting and saving? It’s exhausting to think about the task awaiting us . Yet, memories are in every one of them which creates a want in us . Nicely written, Dale.
    Izzy 😎

    Liked by 1 person

  30. A good story based on real-life, Dale. My children seem to like old photos also and that’s good as they’ll inherit mine. I did go back and label some before I got as forgetful as I’m becoming now. I guess most people don’t label them and then forget who the heck they are. My mother was a widow when she married my dad. I’ll never forget her pointing at a group and telling me they were her first husband’s relatives. I got the idea she didn’t care enough to label them. It was something about the tone in her voice. 😀 — Suzanne

    Liked by 1 person

  31. Lovely story, Dale! My sister has taken on the huge project of “digitalizing” the large amount of our old family photos. I’m always so happy when she sends a few my way from time to time. I do love the physical photos, but it’s not so practical anymore and they can be lost.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. I find photographs to be bittersweet. There are the memories they capture, which are usually happy. People don’t often take pictures of their parent fighting or Uncle Bob passed out in his own vomit at Thanksgiving. Then there’s the reminder of how cruel time can be.

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  34. Yes. I was just thinking this morning about this very thing. I’ve been late in reading this week because we were notified of my husband’s sister’s death, and it is consuming hours of time. Terry is the only one still living of their immediate family, so until we find a will, he is assuming executorship. It’s all very complicated, but we have very little left when it’s all said and done except a few faded photographs.. And our memories. We can pass the pictures and the memories to our children and grandchildren, but eventually both will fade into the mists of time. One could become quite morose over all of this, but when we consider the joy, past present future that has infused our lives, then we can smile. I would rather have lived, after all, than never to have existed.

    Sorry for going all philosophical on you 🙂

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