I am cherishing those black and white, faded pale pictures as the best gift I could ever receive right now!
I may call it a virtual happy trip to the past that I am missing as I am growing old! Touching a photo of me when I was 2 years, takes me back to the tranquility of the easy life of toddlers in the 70s. I contemplate that look discovering a camera. That hairdo which I am not having now. The tiny baby body in the dress without caring about the style or the color.
I am the middle child. of course, these pictures bring to my mind sometimes how tough it was to live that reality! Feeling invisible behind the first sibling; and feeling less cuddled than the last baby in the family. I realise now that this made of me a tough person to face reality and feel lots of gratitude with the least that I can have.
However, looking at this picture makes me feel how happy I was with the simplest activities. Like trying to imitate adults who take care of kids. At that time, we had no standing shower, only tub. So, kids just sat down for baths in the open patio when the weather allows it. I see now being a mom that my parents took this photo proudly seeing me taking a bit of responsibility to clean my younger brother.
My spontaneous face before the camera without carrying about my lost tooth, makes me laugh so bad each time I see it. It is an opportunity for me also to think about my younger brother and send him a text or call.
The family is a bond of feelings which stems from the instinct and that triggers our memory to keep all infantile images locked in; it never matters the quality of childhood the person spends with the family. There is always a little story behind every picture; especially in the 70s and 80s not everybody could afford a video camera to register actions. Childhood Photos make the brain recall, imagine, relive, travel and analyse but for sure it is better to take only the positive and good side of our imagination to appreciate the present moment and cherish the natural and funny part of it.
And this is me 41 years later! Still wanting to print pictures like the old good days and wait how I am going to feel looking at them in the next 40 other years for the times they are a-changin’ as Bob Dylan said:
"….Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'….''
