Friday, April 18, 2008

Remember When

A picture is worth a thousand words. It is often worth a thousand memories too. We also attach memories to objects other than pictures. A special childhood toy, a ticket stub or cherished gift from the past are common things to mark those special events or eras in our lives.

Recently, Lady Di came across a homemade sweater that Number One Son wore when he was between one and two years old. This blue sweater was knitted by a friend of my Grandma Peg. It has a hood and it zips up the back.

This sweater is special for two reasons. The first reason is that it was homemade and from N1S's great grandmother. The second reason is, he looked so cute in this picture that we called it our Teletubby picture. The hood has a puff ball on the top and would always stick straight up in the air. It just seemed appropriate.
Great-Grandma was smart enough to ask her friend to make it a little big for him so he got to wear it for a year or more.

It's hard to believe how small our kids were back then. They grow so fast. At least we can still rely on pictures and special objects to refresh our memories of the way they were. Never underestimate the power of a picture. I'm lucky that Lady Di is a scrapbooker. But you don't have to scrapbook to take and save great pictures of your kids. So, go ahead, take a picture of them right now. Who cares if they are sleeping, scowling or pooping. You never know if a memory will be lost or saved.



Plus, it is really hard to recreate the memory eight years later. Number One Son was a good sport for this picture. He thought I was being silly, but he indulged his father's wishes. It's alright though, I told him that I would delete the picture and no one would see. Now I have a wonderful memory (bargaining chip) for his teenage years.

5 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

Dude, tell that is just a conveniently coloured sweater in (what is at least relatively close to) your son's size, and not the actual baby sweater. If it is indeed the same one, well, wow.

The Father of Five said...

DadStuff - Another GREAT post!

When I was first born, my parents lived next to an older "childless" couple. They became (literally) the Mr. and Mrs. Wilson to my sister and I's "Dennis the Menace".

(She would bake and envite us over to eat, he loved us dearly, but usually played the older "grouchy" guy!)

Anyway, they had an old rocking chair in a corner of their house. When I was first brought home from the hospital, a photo of my dad was taken rocking me.

We moved away when I was around 8 or so, but we always kept in touch with them - stop over and visit, etc.

Around age 12 - we "re-took" that photo with me sitting on my dad's lap. I was nearly asleep (we were there late).

About 12 years ago, "Mr. Wilson" passed away, then 5 years (or so) ago "Mrs. Wilson" passed away.

Knowing how much that photo (and perhaps the chair) was to my parents, the chair was left to them. Just last thanksgiving we took a photo of me sitting on my dad's lap again.

This took some creative "leaning" and "holding myself up" on my part as I outweigh my dad now 2 to 1, and I am not sure the chair was ever built to withstand that much "love"!

So, we have the three photo series. Infant, age 12 (about the last time I could sit on my dad's lap) and the staged 38 years old!

Dad Stuff said...

SFD: Yes, that is the same sweater. We could only squeeze his head into the hood. The rest of the sweater only reached to his neckline.

FOF: I like to see multiple pictures at the same location over the years to see how much trees and landscapes have changed. I hope you start a new series of photos with your chair.

Anonymous said...

Very cute!! A great idea!

melakaplanter said...

Long time no visit your blog. How is your family? Send my regards to them.

You are true. "A picture is worth a thousand words and worth a thousand memories". By this reason, I like to snap photo with my camera and post inside in my blog.

Sometime, I realise that I quite weak in communication. The more I tell people to more they do not understand my situation and the best is by diagram, photo or other image.

ok. thanks for giving me a space to "talk".:)

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I'm a 40 year old dad of two. My wonderful wife, Lady Di, and I try to keep the kids from blowing things up here in central Minnesota.