Those Were The Days

I originally sat down tonight to write an entirely different post. However, when I actually wrangled my mind down long enough, the things that I wanted to express just wouldn't translate from brain to binary.

When this happens, and it often does, I tend to go flicking through my old writings looking for inspiration.

What I found this time, were not words, but photographs. Still reminders of the past, of people gone or forgotten. Of lost loves, former & forever friends, good gatherings, and grieving good-byes.

One photograph in particular stood out at me. It's that moment in a movie when one of the players is searching for something else and their hands run across a token they had long since stowed away for safe keeping. A pause, a stillness in the rush, just long enough to remember all the faint whispers caught on this silver paper.

What brings that moment out in you? Do you have a photograph that takes you back? Or perhaps it's a picture taken long before you were born- and it reveals to you something you never knew about someone else? That is how it is for me, at least.

The picture I found this evening is one of my grandparents. Even though there is nothing about it that would win awards or accolades, it holds such meaning for me. A beautiful and candid image, it portrays a happy moment in the life of my grandfather and my nana.

I can't possibly say how grateful I am to have been allowed to hold this little treasure.  Especially now that my loving Nana is currently in assisted living. She has to ask me who's birthday is when in which month now, and she is becoming more and more forgetful. It doesn't slow her memory down about the night that a friend snapped this portrait.

"It was a dance up in Danville! We used to go to them every Saturday night. Your grandfather danced with every woman. I shared him because I knew he was coming home with me! We always had the best time. And we could really move!"

So tonight, Nana, I dedicate this entry to you- and to the memories that never fade.