Old Pictures

By Lois Kerr

Most of us enjoy looking at old pictures of ourselves, our friends, and our families, particularly pictures taken years ago that remind us of another time, another place, and in some cases almost another lifetime when we consider how much we’ve changed and how drastically the world around us has altered with the passage of years.

I pulled out some old photos the other day and I find I look at these pictures a lot differently now than I looked at them when they were first taken. Back then, I noticed how my friends or family or I looked overall; whether the pictures made us look fat, if the hairdos looked attractive, and in general just how the people in the photo stacked up in this particular picture as compared to how they looked on an everyday basis.

I now look at these same pictures with a different perspective. I still may chuckle at the clothes or the hairdos, but it’s what’s in the background of these pictures that now intrigues me as much or more than the central focus of friends, family or myself. I notice pictures on the wall, pictures I haven’t thought about in decades. I see pieces of furniture and may remember a particular incident that occurred with that chair or that stool. I see the toys strewn around which vividly remind me how much my parents cared about us children and tried to see that we had books to read and puzzles to do and games to play. I see the swing set in the back yard and recall shenanigans and stunts that my siblings and I attempted on those swing sets. It makes me marvel that none of us children ever fell off the apparatus and broke a body part while attempting daredevil antics.

I notice outbuildings and shrubbery that remind me how we used to play hide and seek in the corn crib and climb the apple tree, hiding among the branches to spy on the neighbors and unsuspecting passersby. I see the big brick barn that to us kids held seemingly endless possibilities for fun and games. Some enterprising person remodeled the barn into apartments years ago but I still have pictures of the dwelling as a barn, and the memories to go with those pictures.

There’s the forsythia bush, a huge old shrub where my sister used to hide when she spied the neighborhood bully swaggering down the street. I see numerous well-loved dogs hanging out in the background of many pictures, which recalls many moments spent with these animals. A person standing off to the side of a picture brings back memories not only of that person, but of other events associated with that particular time and place. These many minor details evident in pictures if a person takes the time to look for them can conjure up a host of recollections that lead to other memories that happened long ago and far away.

Take out some old pictures. Don’t just look at the person that may be the center of attention. Rather, notice the wealth of information contained in that particular picture. You may be amazed at some of the memories a simple object sitting in the background may trigger.