Have you ever seen a family photo and felt an immediate emotional reaction or connection? My aunt sent me this photo and I laughed initially then was struck by several emotions at once. One of my thoughts had to do with how disconnected I feel with my family or I should say my siblings. Looking at my sister and I hamming it for the camera cracks me up, but my sister would probably respond that she doesn't remember being this happy in childhood. Considering the rift that has grown between us, it's a bit sad to see this image. I'm also struck by how much I look like my mother in this image. In other photos, I look a lot like my father, but in this one, the similarities with my mom are eery. Another thought is look how young my parent's look. Then the realization sets in that I am currently older than the people in this photo.
Which leads to my second encounter with a photo, this one I didn't see, but can remember. Someone mentioned to me that a mutual acquaintance has a photo on her desk from a work party, in which I appear. (I'm using a family photo as an example since I don't have that particular photo.) I recalled how close I was with those friends, but it's been six years and we've drifted apart and live in different states, which made me sad because I can clearly recall the day the picture was taken. The person who mentioned the picture also commented on how different I look now. When I asked if they meant because of the weight, they hesitantly responded, yes. As you can see from a more recent image, I've lost a bit of weight in the past six years. The friend commented they've heard me mention the weight loss and they knew me back then, but had never realized the difference. Neither had hubby, until he looked at our photo albums. He thought I had been joking about the amount of weight I had lost.
So, in the last week, I've been zinged by photos and reminded of days gone by, friends lost, confusing family relations, and reminded of why I need to continue working out. Have you ever experienced multiple strong emotions from your personal photos?
Have you ever seen a family photo and felt an immediate emotional reaction or connection? My aunt sent me this photo and I laughed initially then was struck by several emotions at once. One of my thoughts had to do with how disconnected I feel with my family or I should say my siblings. Looking at my sister and I hamming it for the camera cracks me up, but my sister would probably respond that she doesn't remember being this happy in childhood. Considering the rift that has grown between us, it's a bit sad to see this image. I'm also struck by how much I look like my mother in this image. In other photos, I look a lot like my father, but in this one, the similarities with my mom are eery. Another thought is look how young my parent's look. Then the realization sets in that I am currently older than the people in this photo.
Which leads to my second encounter with a photo, this one I didn't see, but can remember. Someone mentioned to me that a mutual acquaintance has a photo on her desk from a work party, in which I appear. (I'm using a family photo as an example since I don't have that particular photo.) I recalled how close I was with those friends, but it's been six years and we've drifted apart and live in different states, which made me sad because I can clearly recall the day the picture was taken. The person who mentioned the picture also commented on how different I look now. When I asked if they meant because of the weight, they hesitantly responded, yes. As you can see from a more recent image, I've lost a bit of weight in the past six years. The friend commented they've heard me mention the weight loss and they knew me back then, but had never realized the difference. Neither had hubby, until he looked at our photo albums. He thought I had been joking about the amount of weight I had lost.
So, in the last week, I've been zinged by photos and reminded of days gone by, friends lost, confusing family relations, and reminded of why I need to continue working out. Have you ever experienced multiple strong emotions from your personal photos?
