Thursday 26 January 2023

Random thoughts

Tuesday night after work I drove out to visit mom. She seems to be doing well.

Mom had me dig out a container of photos that we looked through. When I was a kid my family was never big on taking photos. Some of the reasons may have been buying a camera and film and then getting the photos developed. Starting out my parents did not have much and owning a camera let alone taking the occasional photo was likely a bit of a luxury. My father definitely did not like having his picture taken so there are few photos of him.

The photos of days gone by are nowhere near as sharp and clear as the photos of today. The old photos are less sharp, a little blurry, like my memories. We were not good at labelling photos, there were quite a few where mom and I could not remember who a lot of the people were. I wish we would have made notes and comments on the back all those years ago. Mom is no help, her memory is markedly failing these days. 

No nostalgic stirrings for me. I am a solo act with no descendants and no one to pass anything on to. If anything, I think more about the present and the things I have to tackle in the future. I have no interest in taking possession of any of the photos. To me they belong to another time.

One thing that stuck with me after sifting through some memories of multiple places where I lived. We had a lot of God awful ugly furniture. 

11 comments:

  1. May I ask what's your succession plan? I too am my own entity. I own land and things and haven't figured what to do.

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    1. Have your executor sell everything and then send the proceeds to me. While at first that may seem harsh or greedy, it really isn't. I know a great many who could use a boost to start a depression proof business in my home town. You wouldn't have any worries and someone else would get a kick start.

      Dave

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    2. Other than having a will and leaving it all to my sister I have not really figured it out either.

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    3. BW, that's the idea. Depending on where you live, the state takes everything that isn't set out in a will and even then, the money hungry government pencil pushers will try to squeeze the estate for everything they can.

      Don't leave things for your state to just gobble up.

      Dave

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  2. BW, my problem also. I have a lot of old pictures of people and places from my parents(deceased) and have taken to scan them and email asking siblings and relatives if they have any recollections. If I don't get a reply or unknowns, I throw them away. The ones I do get a recollection I write on the back any info.

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  3. EVERYBODY'S furniture was ugly back then, lol!

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  4. Well the ugly furniture is gone, and the memories are in the past. Like you said, live today and keep doing the things you enjoy, as that will be your story.

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  5. Donate your old photos to a local historical society. Especially ones with cars or buildings in them. Future researchers may find the only known picture of something among your photos. My local historical society actually said that very few digital photos get saved long term-- cell phones get ruined, computers crash, and storage devices usually get tossed when someone is cleaning out a deceased persons possessions.

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  6. Photos - wonderful to have but only if they're properly identified for future generations. A few years ago I went through all the photos I inherited from my parents, scanned them, and posted them to my family 'tree' on Ancestry. Then I bundled those that I thought family members might be interested in having and 'blessed' them with them. If the pictures are on Ancestry then other people can access them plus if I happen to need any of them I can get to them. I ended up throwing out (I know - gasp!!) a ton that absolutely had no identfication and seeminly were just random pictures of who knows who. Perhaps you could think of selecting a number of the pictures that have memories for you and get them put into a book at the copy store - perhaps a copy for both you and your sister. That way the 'collection' is easily contained and you can let go of the rest without feeling guilty.

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  7. I've kept a small selection of photos from my childhood along with a few of my mom's diaries. My memory isn't the best so the photos are my only link to the past and is something I appreciate. Most of the photos bear a date from the photo developer and many of them are identified as well. I had them scanned recently in order to share them with my siblings (if they so desire) but when I want to see them I always want to handle the original printed photos...touching them is a key part of the experience.

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