Memories

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder Years

So, last week I borrowed a tote full of old pictures from my Mom's house.  I used to look at these pictures a lot years ago, before life got busy and hectic, but it's been a while so I felt a look into the past and into fond memories was well needed so the tote took a ride over to my house where I've been occasionally going through them all one by one.

 

Oh my goodness there are some real good pictures and some funny ones too.  It's fun to go through them with my kids and give them a glimpse into my life when I was young.  What Grandma's house looked like years ago when I was growing up compared to now.  How I looked and our various family members did and Sam especially got a kick out of the hair and clothing from years ago.  I'll admit, it is quite funny to look at.

 

While going through some of them I pulled out some of the more significant ones for me.  Pictures that no matter how many years go by before I go through these again, these are some of the pictures I will hunt to find and pull out to make me smile.

 

Like this one....

 

Yeah, this lovely lady is me when I was about 6 months old.  Look at those legs!  This photo is actually painted and my Mom and Dad had pictures like these done of my brother and sister as well when they were 6 months old too.  For the longest time these portraits of us hung on the living room wall at my parents house, in order by age of course.  I just think it is one of my favorite pictures of me ever.  I love the little flower basket.

 

Then while searching for more pics I came across this one.  Another family favorite.

 

 

 

 

The man in the center of this photo is my Great Grandpa Oscar, he is from my Dad's side of the family.  I am the little tiny baby in the yellow on the left and am sitting on my sister's lap.  The sweet little girl on Grandpa's lap is my cousin, Cindy and the two boys are my brother (the older one) and my cousin Tim on his lap. 

 

In fact, we decided to replicate the pose at my cousin Cindy's wedding in 1996, but instead of Grandpa Oscar we let his daughter (our Grandma), sit in his spot.  This photo was taken 24 years later.

 

 

 

 

Man, those were some good times.  I really do like to look at these old pictures and think back to those days and remember moments that correlated with the photos.  I remember her wedding being such a fun day.  It would be fun just to redo it all over again.

 

As I was going through the tote I was brought back to my roots and thinking about my Dad as so many people have told me in the past that I look a lot like him.  I also think our Zachary resembles him in many ways.  He has that super dark skin tone that my Dad always had.  He has the dark hair color as well as the big dark eyes.  Here are some pictures of him as a young boy to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I really think this last one looks a ton like Zachary. 

 

 

 

Oh and yeah, the funny pics.  Somewhat embarrassing pics I might say.

 

How about this one?

 

 

 

 

Nice polaraid picture of some obnoxious orphan Annie lookalike.  Yep that's me alright.  I'm looking pretty hot, heh?

 

I actually remember going to the salon in Random Lake to get this wonderful perm.  The Golden Palace I believe it was called, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Don't ask me why I thought I needed my hair to look this way but at the time I think I seriously thought I was looking pretty darn hot.  LOL!

 

Oh and the annual Christmas photo of the grandkids at Grandma's house.  We are all so cool, aren't we?  I love my plaid dress and my cousin's matching sweaters, not to mention my sister's lovely outfit and glasses.  Hilarious stuff!

 

 

 

 

Okay, enough of this for now.  My bed is calling me and I just can't look at anymore of these old time photos.  Although they bring back a lot of good memories it is also starting to make me feel REAL OLD!!!

 

Nighty night!