My sisters and I have been talking for several years about organizing the family photo albums. We finally got started over the holidays. 

We gathered at the kitchen table as we began the process of labeling the picture memories of our family. Many of the photos were in the old-style sticky page albums and we had to remove them carefully to keep from ripping them apart. We almost lost a few. 

My Mom told stories about growing up on a farm, her grandmother Alice and her mother Hallie. We stared at the black and white photos of our other grandmother, Beaulah, who raised six sons and a daughter after her husband died at a young age. There was a photo of her sister Nina, wearing a pale pink long dress and perfectly styled hair. Our adored great aunt, who drove a car until weeks before she died at age 84, never stepped out of the house unless she was fashionably dressed. One picture showed our parents in their 20s, their young faces filled with hope and anticipation. 

Of course, there were photos marking significant family events –high school and college graduations, family vacations, family reunions and more. As we were only days away from the beginning of a new decade, I couldn’t help but think about how these images mark the passage of time in our lives, creating our histories and sense of self. 

We don’t yet know what our new stories will be or how our friends, families and strangers will help shape them. We can only start the New Year with an eager and open heart, compassion and generosity and an unshakeable faith.  Have a wonderful journey in 2010.

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