The photograph is an incredible imprint of a moment in
history...This past summer, it took on new meaning for my husband and me at a
surprise 40th anniversary dinner...Poster after poster of
photographs were on display depicting our life!...Today, as I began to take
down these pictures and place them into a special commemorative album, I soon
realized how many special moments were created and caught on film...Our 40th
anniversary was an incredible milestone....How had we done it? .... What we did not realize on that special day,
in August, was the effect our 40 year union had had on our adult children.....
The surprise party for us was the ‘wedding reception’ we never had 40 years ago!
Today’s slow,
meticulous dismantling of several hundred pictures, spanning over 40 years, reminded me of the many moments of
love, hilarity and caring that had occurred....
There were pictures of our teen boys adorning themselves with wigs of
long colorful hair to surprise me at a Bon Jovi concert in Toronto, ..Then
there was the time our boys, dressed in suits with dark glasses, drove a family
friend to our barbecue, pretending she was a high profile dignitary, as they
whisked her away to her destination....Presidential treatment comes to mind...
We all laughed as I snapped yet another picture of the secret mission infolding
before us..... Family pets of many
kinds, some long since gone, are forever remembered because photographs made
them a lingering memory for me.... (A
strip of 15 pictures will remain intact and framed, too gripping to lose in the confines of an album)..... (The video camera, a
cumbersome bit of machinery back then, was never in my arsenal of ‘picture
taking’ tools.) ...Today's digital camera is a marvel to behold!
The unexpected, unrelenting, imaginative, and simply
wonderful moments created by our family and friends reminded me that an
eclectic life had unfolded and continues to unfold...Photographs tell the
complete story... Pictures of the places we’d visited come alive because of a
husband who always wanted to travel and whose incredible sense of direction
opened up new vistas for all of us... Our sons were very lucky to have a father
so talented and immersed in their lives, every step of the way....Pictures of
our life together had become an interestingly woven tapestry for our assembled
guests to view and for us to enjoy, forever.....My incessant picture taking had
not been for naught!
The cornucopia of snapshots, grouped thematically and chosen
with care, were a marvel to behold-still. Our precious girls, daughter-in-law and “Lucy”,
had worked their magic, painstakingly,
to bring these pictures to life....I marvelled and cried silently at those
pictures, a world that might not have been had we not had children..... My
‘picture taking’ had served a purpose... Countless hours had been spent scanning then choosing
these photographs for presentation. ... Their impact was profound..... (A professional
photographer, a close family friend, praised our children for the quality of
their display)... The moments of yesteryear were now up close and personal, a
tangible, immovable feast for us to view over and over again, a continual reminder
of our five children’s mind numbing
surprise.
The pictures taken on our anniversary added yet another dimension
of visual proof that something special had happened that day... Detailed
planning had gone into the execution of this event. The pictures told this
newest story..... But it was the people: a mix of many who have touched our
lives over the years made our 40th, an event we could never have
imagined.... The pictures- still life, full of purpose and
promise, helped me see what a wonderfully orchestrated history 40 years had
brought...The snapshots said it all.... And I cried some more.....
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