As Generations Pass

Coming from a large family there are a lot of memories of things that are forgotten until I happen to run into a picture of something to jar my memory. There are a lot of little things that just slip my mind, and when I see a photo it brings back memories. Lately these memories have had more of an emotional impact on me than they used to. I think it's because I'm getting older and realize, with a sense of finality, that there will never be times like those again. To put it another way; when we used to have our family get togethers we made the memories. Now when we have them we reminisce about those past gatherings, while our children create their own memories before our eyes.

I was looking at photos today that my oldest sister posted on our family web site. It's amazing to see such a different world in those pictures, one world I recall with fondness, and also the world before my arrival into the family, which was yet another era in family history. My oldest sister is almost twenty years older than I, and to look at pictures of the family members and the homestead before I came into being makes me wish I'd been there then. Mom and dad were so much younger looking, and I can see the bond that existed between the older kids, which was something different for us younger ones. It kind of makes me feel left out - not going through some of the experiences my older siblings went through, but at the same time I realize that I had my own place in something unique and special, my family.