The picture I hope my descendants find.

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One of my favorite activities when I was growing up was spending hours in our dusty, swelteringly-hot-in-the-summer, wood-pine-fragrant attic for hours at a time. In the attic were several old trunks filled with family photographs, both recent and very old. I remember being fascinated by them all but especially by the pictures taken of my grandmother when she was young. She was born around the turn of the 20th century, so when she was a young woman (“lady” back in those days) she was a flapper who could be seen decked out in the loose short sleeveless dresses, long beads, boas, and the short hairdo’s of the day.

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Click on photo to enlarge.
My grandmother Earlene with my dad in 1930. I love the cloche hat. She was beautiful and always so fashionable too.

I think every family has certain photographs that capture the imagination of children born generations later. When I think of the future, say about 50-100 years from now, and my grandchildren (should I ever have any), great-grandchildren or great-great grandchildren are scouring THEIR attic (or whatever serves as an attic in 2085 or whatever) THIS is the picture of me I hope they find. It was taken in about 2000 and shows me holding Kimba, my cat at that time (she got run over by a car).

I know the focus is shitty because my camera sucks and the picture is so tiny (that’s a miniature pewter frame about 1 1/4 inches across), but I think this picture captures my personality in a unique way that shows me the way I really am instead of the me my parents wanted me to be in all the family photos (always smiling). I look a bit pensive and far away, but also vulnerable and a bit bemused. That’s what I actually walk around feeling like in my normal-for-me (meaning non-depressed) moods. It reminds me of a photograph of a woman of about 100 years ago–ever notice people in old photos almost never smiled? The men looked stern and mean and so did some of the women (especially older ones), but most younger women looked the way I do in this picture, and that’s why I hope to be remembered this way.

I faded the color a bit to make the photo seem more antique-looking.

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9 thoughts on “The picture I hope my descendants find.”

  1. I love love love old photographs. I find myself wondering too what the story is behind them, whether from my own family or from random ones you see in antique shops. And what did they go about doing after the shot was taken. I like to look at everything in the shot too, the background and all the stuff.

    People didn’t smile ‘in the olden days’ (LOL) because the camera shutter was so slow they had to hold ultra still or the pic would be out of focus. I think too that even if they started out with a smile it would fade by the time the shutter would close.

    I remember noticing that as a kid and thought, was everyone mean back then? Not that the possibility isn’t there. Unfortunately humans have passed their abuse up from the generations and pictures can really reflect our personalities at times.

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    • I love looking at random old photos too, and I also study the backgrounds, the clothing, etc. I do think people were a lot more repressed in the olden days and smiling wasn’t as “valued’ as it is today or even considered attractive. LOL, I used to wonder why people in the far distant past were so “mean” too.

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  2. Even I love old photos, esp. family photos! There are some moments & I’m sure this is one you’d treasure in your heart.
    Feeling sorry for your pet cat Kimba. Pets are close as persons are, maybe, even more closer!
    Thanks for sharing your little treasure!

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  3. My favorite photo of myself remains my high school graduation picture which includes many similar visual details that you describe. I was not smiling or looking directly at the camera. I was wearing my favorite green sweater. Green is not the most flattering color for my “winter” coloring (dark hair, middle range eye color, fair skin), but it is still my favorite color.

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  4. Wonderful post, Lucky. I have a few old photos of my grandmother and her sisters back in the 20s… they looked so elegant in their dresses. I don’t have many photos of myself and very few family members have any. I don’t know which one I would pick to be remembered as… maybe one with me smiling, since I so rarely do these days. Loved your photos 🙂

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  5. The photo of your grandma and your dad? In the middle there’s white spot? Ghost?
    Love the picture of you.

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