OyVey, So Very Many Pictures

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
I never understood my Dad in his later years fussing about sorting pictures. Now I've gotten to where I completely sympathize. Before Thanksgiving I gave myself a three night deadline. Round up pictures and sort the zillions of snaps of the oldest into one box and the other kids in another. Made a really snazzy scrapbook and all the photos were the hit of dinner.
Then today while trying to make sense of wrapping paper. There was an odd tote to the side. So dark I needed a flashlight and behold...zillions and zillions more photos PLUS cards, school papers, some things I forgot about, many things you forget about. One of the special ones was my aunt and my Mom as teens. Probably from the late 30's. I guess they were in tennis wear.

I remember the back story...I'll put this picture online sometime. That could be a new thread..."Show Us Your Parents". I think I'll start it in fact. But back to the tennis outfits. There are four of them in the shot. All three of the other girls including my aunt are wearing shorts with the hems rolled up a bit. Suppose all that thigh was pretty revealing for those days.
My grandmother was church-going and strict. My Mom is on the end in a skirt to her knees.

I've got pictures to copy too. A cousin had his basement flood one time and they lost all their family albums. I have pictures they'll be so happy for. But woof it's exhausting sorting piece by piece by piece by...just took me 3 hours, I'm cross eyed.
 

I've not gotten around to digitizing all my old photos, but that's on the project list for next year when I stop working. The bigger issue with be my father-in-law when we move him up North. He's got boxes and boxes and boxes of SLIDES. We're talking thousands here. He was an avid photographer and has them all stored in his condo. It will take months if not longer to find out what's worth saving. Not to mention hundreds of video tapes and hundreds of audio cassettes from over the years. Will keep me busy, that's for sure, but there are some real treasures in those shots.
 

Another problem is the old albums, even the ones made just for photographs. Some of those old adhesive ones start to stick to pictures. Oh and you remember those snazzy cameras that spit the picture out of the bottom? Those things start to separate from the backing. My in-laws had a scrapbook that was in scraps. After 60 or 70 years the paper and glue on corners just fall apart. Glad I got things out of books when I did.
 
I have a picture on the wall of my aunt. She is standing in front of her car which has a 1917 license plate on it. I made the enlarged print around 1950 from the original negative. It will not be thrown out any time soon.
 
I always tell my children that the first thing I would take from my house if there was a fire would be my pictures. My Son teases me and says he hopes I have 10 people to help me carry them out. I love looking at them and can spend hours looking and remembering so much about what was going on at the time the picture was taken. It's been almost 2 years now that I am trying to organize them. Thankfully now I have a helper. My daughter feels the same way about the pictures and every time she comes over she takes some home with her and organizes them.
 
My dad was a slide-taker, too. There are about a zillion in boxes in the garage.

The slides my Dad has I'm not going to even attempt. If my oldest boy wants to take them fine.

One amusing story my Dad shared. He would shoot film of family events sometimes. Actual film...how quaint. There was on time when he didn't realize he was filming over a previous movie. The first event was a barbeque and the second was my christening. The film still exists. There they are roasting me over the coals;)
 

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