My dining room walls are filled with pictures of all sorts of relatives.
Space being a limiting factor, I have to put some thought into who goes up on the wall. The oldest photos of documented relatives, looking pretty stern and scary, are my father’s Great-Greats, Hiram Dietz and Mary Jane Reynolds Dietz.
Of course, there are my parents, my brothers and me, pictures of my grandmothers, a special aunt, all along with the cute baby pictures of my children and grandchildren.
All the people I love or have loved the most are represented on the wall.
I like that these people preside over every meal, surrounding us with a sense of family history.
I change some of the photos around occasionally, choosing different pictures to remind us of recent or long past events, birthdays, family reunions, vacations, and the like. Some are comical or even slightly absurd. Every photo triggers another memory which needs to be shared.
For a very long time I also had a tray with loose photos on my coffee table. When my eldest grand- daughter was two or three she’d come to visit and the first thing she would head for was that tray of photos to look at pictures of herself and the family . She would go through every one identifying those she knew and and asking me about the others she didn’t know. It was a great game we both enjoyed.
I’ve often wondered about my G-G-G grandparents Mary Jane and Hiram, and I wish I knew more about them. It’s interesting to look at them and speculate about what their life might have been like in New England in the early 1800’s. Their names, birth dates, birth places, marriage dates and their 8 childrens’ names are listed in the family Bible; and I have been able to put together some vague information through internet genealogy searches, but there is little else.
I wonder about other relatives whose only legacy left behind is a photograph, which may or may not have a name attached. A picture is not always worth a thousand words. The old images stare out, people squashed flat and colorless, hiding dimension and nuance, never revealing their full stories.To leave behind only photographs is not enough. Words are needed to tell the full story.
When I am long gone, and when my G-G-G grandchildren look at their own wall, or tray of pictures I’d like to try to leave them another legacy–a little bit of my history to go along with them. That is one reason why I started my online journal 7 years ago. With a little luck, these little bits of my story may survive, so my future generations may have a much better picture of the strange looking old lady whose photo is on the wall.