I am in the process of scanning some photos I borrowed from my mom quite a while ago. These pictures are special because, from what I understand, they came from her mom’s collection. My grandma died when my mom was six in 1963, from a brain aneurysm. So, of course, I never met her. Most of these photos are from the 50′s and are of her and my grandpa and her sister and her husband, whom we are really close with and what I find funny is that a lot of these photos are from my grandpa & uncle’s hunting/fishing trips and some contain only dead fish or rodents or inanimate objects.

These photos are also extra special because they are lucky to be here. My grandpa’s second wife was so jealous of my grandmother, a dead woman, that she threw away all the photos she found of her. Any that survived were already in the hands of my mom or her siblings or my great-aunt or great-grandparents. As far as I can recall, I’ve only seen one photo of my grandma and grandpa’s wedding day.

Anyway, I just thought that especially since this Thanksgiving, as I’ve been thinking about what I’m thankful for, I’ve been thinking a lot about family and how important each and every one of them are, that I would post some of my favorites.

I will also post one of my grandma, not from this collection, that is one of my absolute favorite photos of her.

What is pretty interesting about these photos though, is that I see a past life — somewhere where my grandpa existed before I knew him. Somewhere where he seemed to be happier, more himself. I’ve also got a copy of some of their old home movies that were transferred to VHS by my uncle and grandpa just really seems to me to be someone completely different. It is almost like a part of him died and was buried with grandma.
What is really sad though, in my opinion, is how my grandpa and my great uncle (his brother-in-law) were best friends and now… I think they only see each other at funerals and weddings.

Oh, I even have my mom’s baby book, a lot of which was handwritten by my grandma, that I’m going to have to scan/transcribe.

Yes, family is very important and I am very thankful for family and friends.