Photographs Matter – The Beginning – First Memories

It seems like the kitchen is always a gathering place for friends and family. As a meal is being cooked, folks gather and chat and sample what is being prepared and chat some more.

Our days often start in the kitchen with coffee and breakfast, many times kisses and hugs to loved ones before heading out to tackle each day. We return throughout our days for conversations that soothe our hearts more so than any bandaid applied to a finger or scraped shin.

In a call to my people for photographs that matter most, Judy shared this photograph above with this memory:

I can’t seem to send just one. The first, a black and white of one of my favorite kitchens. This was my daddy’s mom’s kitchen. Great food came out of here. I always loved that it was actually black and white. Mom and I sat in those chairs one afternoon when I was ten and she talked me into drinking a tonic water with lime. She said it was really good. So I tried it and, oh my it was nasty. She shrugged, tasted it and told me it’s much better with gin! (She didn’t add any to mine.) The other photo you know because you took it. My whole family, being hilarious, and just having fun as you snapped away. These people have my heart. 

I love the power of photographs to transport us back to a specific date or time. They drum up memories we forgot were there and remind us of relationships with those long passed. Of their sense of humor and how we fit into our families, even as littles. As an adult, some things will stand out more now. Like the tonic wasn’t doctored up with gin at the time.

Come back next Friday as this series continues and another story is told where we get a glimpse into dreams coming true.