Don't Think Photos Are Important??...Wait Till They're All You Have Left
This is my hero and I, circa 1984:
His name is Bill, and he's my older brother:
These old family snapshots were taken by my mother who was the camera-enthusiast in our family. She wasn't a pro, but she often had a great eye for photos.
Though I never picked up a camera myself until a few years after she passed, she always encouraged me to take up the hobby (possibly so we could share it) and is a large part of the reason I am where I am today.
She had a particular knack for capturing the special relationship I had with my teenage big brother.
He taught me the Vulcan death grip and the Vulcan salute.
He is the first person who exposed me to good music, and his tastes still shape my playlists.
He was a helluva high school wrestler, and he taught me how to defend myself in a time when women's safety meant "Take a man with you."
He taught me how to cope with loss and grief by helping me pen goodbye notes to pets whom we were tasked with burying when they passed.
He showed me how to stay level-headed when those around me are caught up in emotions.
He taught me some basic maintenance on a VW Beetle, and how to listen to Weird Al at an ungodly volume.
Bill is the kind of man who follows a path of humanist philosophy that just comes naturally to him. He is a man who raised a son who wasn't biologically his own even after the relationship with they boy's mother ended - loyal and driven to keep his promises.
And he is a proud, proud grandfather. There was a new spark of life in him, a bit of a bounce in his step, for a long while after his grandson came along.
The last time I saw Bill, I was only 3 months away from having Baby Wolfe, and he told me he couldn't believe his baby sis was becoming a mother, how proud he was of @winstonwolfe and I, how impressed he was with our growing careers. He said he knew mom would be proud, too.
Three weeks later, he was gone, suddenly. He never got to meet my son.
But the Universe, with its whimsical ways, decided to give me a gift to help me say "goodbye". When I held Baby Wolfe in my arms for the first time, we were all in tears in the delivery room because Baby Wolfe held an uncanny resemblance to my big brother (It was the nose!).
Four years later, I still sometimes catch a glimpse of him when Baby Wolfe is running around the house.
The image below was created about a year before he passed by @winstonwolfe and myself.
It captures 4 generations of men in my family - my father, Bill, Bill's son, and Bill's grandson - and was displayed by his casket at the funeral. It now hangs in my father's home.
Though these photos were only snapshots and a fun experiment at the time, we had no idea what life had in store, and they are now priceless. More than priceless, if that's even possible.
At Bill's funeral, I wrote an note on the back of a 33 year-old printed version of photo #1 and left it in his hand to rest in peace with him.
It said, "I love you, big brother. Say hello to Mom for me. "
Forever in my heart, and now, forever on the blockchain.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!
Wow very beautiful and emotional story!! Trust me he is always looking down smiling on you guys....Thank you for sharing such a personal, heart filled story @jazzyfish
Generation time lapse photos and videos are the best. You are so right about the value of photography. They say a pictures says a thousand words for a reason. The right photo can relay subtleties about our relationships that even a video fails to communicate.
That's a great gif!
And you're right: where text and film gets kind of specific, so much can be taken away from a photo, depend on who's viewing it.
We all take care of old memories using precious photos, as we cannot relive them.
You are absolutely right! :D
Oh @jazzyfish , what a beautiful story, sad though, I have tears, but a beautiful tribute to Bill. You had a special bond and created special memories, cherish those! Both your Mothers photos and the family generation portraits are so unique. I think we often dismiss this generation of taking too many selfies, and photos of everything, but at the end of the day, they are going to remember a lot more through those photos that we do when we take none! My heart goes out to you. <3
Thank you so much for the kind words. :) @winstonwolfe and I took on scanning my family's photo collection to preserve it, and I think we went through some 1,000 photos that my mother had collected. Turns out, my grandmother had a knack for the camera, too! As did my mom's older brother.
I guess it runs in the family. :D
great post!!
really nice.
Photos and warmth in our hearts are things we are left when people we love pass away, beautiful story, heartwarming!
Thank you very much!
You know I don't need to read this entire post to already know I fully subscribe to it. Great stuff Caz.
I appreciate that, Sam! :D
A sad and reflective story. Remember though, a photo is never all you have left, the love you felt, the memories, the actions you take based on learning from that person all serve to keep them alive in your heart and on this earth. The world is different because of them and that is everyones ever lasting legacy.
They are definitely alive in my heart! My son loves to stare at a photo of his Uncle Bill that my dad had on his TV stand where he's hanging out the passenger's side of his VW Bug. I'm glad I have these photos so I can at least tell my son about him and have something to show. :)
What a special story, thank you for sharing your life memories. To be honest it made me cry, having lost loved ones that made an impact on my life also. A photo brings back that memory of those special ones.
Thank you so much!🕉
I didn't actually mean for it to be such a sad post, but that's where it just kind of ended up when I was done. lol
I had to take a break and finish it this morning because it was a bit more emotionally taxing to write than I had expected.
Thanks for reading it! I'm glad you enjoyed! :)
It was a pleasure! Thank you again.🕉
Your brother looks like one of the child actors from explorers.
Ha! That's cool, my uncle looked like Patrick Swayze when he was young. lol
I'll have to dig up a good photo of that sometime.
Lol my dad had a little Elvis in him. I love older photos. Time is captured with era.