Where Have All The Photos Gone?

Over the weekend my husband and I were killing some time in downtown Mesa, and decided to browse through an antique consignment store. It was fun checking out all the vintage treasures that were to be found down each aisle. So many items brought about memories of our childhood, as well as memories when our son was a young boy. I loved seeing the vintage clothing they had for sale. There was the mod dress from the 70’s that screamed "Sock it to me", and there was a delicate wedding dress from the 1800’s. The old toys, old books, and old dolls lined many shelves begging to be discovered once again and taken home. But one thing that we happened upon too many times, were old vintage photo albums and shoe boxes full of forgotten or abandoned family photos. How did they get here?

There were photos of grandchildren sent to grandparents with a loving notes written on the back side. Photos of families at play, family portraits, and family reunions. One album had several photos of a young woman taken on different occasions, (it looked like the photos were taken in the late 50’s or early 60’s). She was dressed in lovely outfits fitting of Jackie Onassis. She looked so together and so happy in each photo. I couldn’t help but wonder how they ended up in this consignment store rather than placed lovingly on someones book shelf. Were there no relatives to take the photos in and cherish them? Were they long lost from a storage shed that was auctioned after non payment? Is there someone out there that would give anything to have these photos of their long lost relatives? What is the story? I truly hoped that our photos, and my scrapbooks would not end up this way years from now.

I know as a young woman I really wasn’t that interested in where I came from beyond the present time. Now I wish I had asked more questions,had more information, and had more photos from my past and my relatives from past generations. Our children and grandchildren don’t realize how lucky they are to have access to all the photos we are taking presently! I hope they will take advantage of the information that I am leaving for them if they choose to take it in the future. All of our lives are important and warrant being remembered.