Photo Memories

So I decided to finally get started on a little project I have been thinking about. I'm pulling photos from my past and going to do a post on them. We'll see how long I can keep this up, but I think it could be fun, I love old photos, well before I hit that awkward stage in my life...you know around the age of 5-present. lol. So here we go, hope you enjoy!




The year was 1977, it was a warm spring day....well I don't really know what kind of day it was, but anyway I was born and here is a picture of my on the day I was baptized. I had three official sponsors, two of which are seen in this picture. The one on the left is my dad's sister Linda and the one of the right is my aunt Julie. Oh and that little cute adorable want to hug and him and squeeze him baby in Julie's arms? Yeah, that would be me. Not much has changed really right? :) My third sponsor who is not pictured is my aunt Bonnie who was not able to make the trip from New Jersey that weekend, but since I didn't really remember the day, I guess it wasn't too important. lol.

I don't remember that day, as you can see I slept through most of it, much like years of my adult life. I could probably go on and on about how that day changed my life, but really as a baby, it was another day, the only thing different was the man that put the water on my head and the party after wards. I didn't fully appreciate being baptized in my life until much later in life, I would never downplay it's importance in my life, nor the impact of it today, it's just another post for another day.

The fashion of the seventies leaves something to be desired does it not? My aunt Linda looks so happy in this picture, I don't know what happened to that happy aunt, somewhere in her life, her rough marriage and her bitter divorce we drifted apart, there wasn't far to go since we were never really close anyway, but in the present tense I use the term "my father's sister" because of some bad things that happened after Grandma died. I have since forgiven her, but I do not forget or make mistakes like that again. Once again, another post for another day....or maybe I've already posted about it. Eh, who knows.

My aunt Julie is still as happy as she was in that picture. My aunt Julie didn't live to far from our house, she would baby sit us, she would spend the weekend with us, take us all over the place and would just have so much fun with us. She was and still is a big part of my life, she has a zest in life that is hard to match but an infectious laugh and smile. Knowing her as an adult is just as much fun as knowing her as a child.

The patio in the background is pretty the same as it is today except the door in the picture is now part of the family room and the window is now the door. It shows the years of wear and tear more than the two adults in the picture do. We used to spend an awful lot of time on that patio. Our house was on the smaller side so inside parties were never fun so we always had them on the patio. Even when there wasn't parties we kids would spend our time out there, we would bar-b-que there, we would swing on the swing, take naps and just live life out there.

Dad said when they bought the house the patio was not there, there was a giant tree stump where the swing is in the picture and it took him nearly two years to get it out of the ground. I wouldn't know because that patio was poured the year before this picture was taken so I wasn't around. The fact of the matter is, things change, people change. Some for the better, some not so much, but things change, constantly. The question is, do you change with them? Do you fight the change to stay the same and complain about how everyone around you has changed? Is it really change or is it growth? Growth happens with change, you learn from your mistakes, you learn from your victories, you learn who is with you, and eventually you learn who is really against you.

My life is nothing like it used to be and yet sometimes, it feels the same, but the same of the good way. I still find comfort in that old patio, I still find comfort in the faces in the picture, even after all that has happened between us I didn't know any better at that time, when her life changed, she chose to change with it and perhaps to someone closer to her it was for the better, perhaps we were never meant to be a close knit family with my dad's side, I don't know, but that's what it is. I wish her no ill will, I hope someday she can find that smile that she has in that picture again. I hope my aunt Julie continues to change in her life and yet continue to hold on to that smile and zest for life, and I hope I can continue to change with life, roll with the punches and keep coming out on top.

It amazes me at times that this picture was taken 34 years ago, where has the time gone? I look at myself asleep and at peace with the world and think, wow, you have no idea what you are instore for. The good the bad the crazy, it's all so wild, and then I wonder, what will I think 34 years from now looking back at this very moment?

If the next 34 years are as great as the first, I can't wait, well I can because I'll be pushing 70, I'll go as slow as I can, but these last 34 just seems to have flown by. All I can say is Thank you to God for this life, for the people that were a part of it so far and those that will be a part of it in the future. All in all I have been blessed and continue to be blessed every day.