This evening at my grandmother's I got to look through a ton of her old photos and it was one of the most incredible experiences I've had in my life. If you still have living grandparents and you've never taken the chance to sit down and look through old photos with them, you should. I can't believe how little I knew about my grandparents and their relatives before tonight.
I saw a picture of my grandma's grandpa on his horse in the Swedish army, and another photo of my grandpa's grandfather in his uniform from the Civil War. I learned about my grandma's uncle Floyd who was a bandit and in prison for a while, then saw a newspaper article on one of his run-ins with the law including a picture of him lying on the ground shot. I saw a photo for the first time of my great-grandfather and finally know his name. I know what my grandma's job was during her first years of marriage, and also that she was on a bowling team which dressed up for halloween each year. I learned that my grandpa drove a car for an older woman, and once drove her out to California which was a lot of traveling back in those days.
I learned that my grandma's basement is full of treasures. Found tonight was my grandpa's dress coat from the military, all of his old music, a ton of framed pictures, a box of old pictures including some of my great-grandfather in Sweden, a huge old bible with Library of Congress date 1892 complete with four leaf clovers and a fern pressed in its pages, my grandpa's military diary, all of his old papers and things from mortuary science school. The list goes on and on.
Most importantly, I learned how many stories my grandma has to tell that I've never asked about. I plan on changing that.
No comments:
Post a Comment