It's Christmas time, and I think it gets us all thinking about things we don't usually think about the rest of the year. I am in my home office where I work on the morning show and this article and today I ran across one of my favorite pictures on my desk. It's there all year long, but the way I look at it a few days before Christmas is very different than I would 5 days before the 4th of July.
The picture is of my dad and his three brothers hamming it up at some function many years ago. It's black and white with a solid white border. They seem to be wearing 50's style clothing and having a big time. Standing is my uncle Joe, John and and my dad, Bob and Hank is sitting on some chair that looks like it's off the set of I Love Lucy. They all seem to be yucking it up after someone said something really funny. It's truly a great candid shot that caught the very essence of who they all were.
Years ago as young adults, we ran across this photo one Christmas and my brother, brother-in-law, Hank (who was still with us) and me decided to recreate the same picture. And we did. It's framed too and it sits on the desk in my office as well. It looks amazingly similar, except it's color and it's not quite as faded. But as I compare the shots side-by-side I can't help but think that's where the similarities end.
My brother, brother-in-law and myself all are living good lives in various cities around the country. Luckily we are all healthy. We enjoy all the up to the minute gadgets and fads that quickly come into favor in today's world and fade. We all live within a few hours drive of each other and get together when we can. Or we simply whip out the cell or the computer and keep each other updated on our busy lives.
The four men in the older picture have all passed away. They all eventually succomed to the same illness in various decades and at differerent stages of life. They all grew up in the depression, shared nickels with each other when they had them and the all went off to World War II together. They were in all corners of the world.... apart.... long before cell phones, GPS, e-mail, or even a phone that could be used to call home from overseas. And.... they all came home to their mom, all healthy and grown up. That was absolutley amazing for the time. The picture was taken long after those days were over in better times. The good time caught in the picture was due to them.
I like the new picture, but I love the old one. Sometimes a moment is just captured and it can't be re-created no matter how hard you try. I have no idea who took the old picture or where it was taken. But I think that's the fun of it. Just four young men enjoying a hearty laugh. And if I know them as I think I do the laugh was at no ones expense. Whatever it was, it was probably just good clean fun. I will keep the picture always.
I'm sure you have that ONE old picture too! I hope you do. It's fun to know where you came from. There's something about an old photo of loved ones that can bring you back to center. It can give you perspective with just a glance on just the right day.
It's been about a year now since the last of the brothers passed on from the old photo. Hank passed away just after Christmas last year. I was there. I think he thought I was my dad. He called me Bob, and I'm good with that. Then he died. It was that simple. Talk about perspective, the last Christmas without one of those brothers in the world was 1908! But I think a Christmas wish was granted as a result. Now the boys are together again and I'm guessing Bob, John and Joe, were just waiting for Hank.... so another longer-lasting picture of the boys could finally be taken.
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