A week ago today, John & I drove down to a classmate's artshow, outside of Washington, D.C. It was a delightful jaunt to & from, with one special surprise. For the first time that I can recall, a Towson exit included "Middle River."
Middle River. My heart smiled. And my life changed.
My father's mother's family centered their summers in Middle River, Maryland. They were a large, loving family that had great times at his aunt & uncle's home on the river. I can't remember their names, although Mom mentioned them several times.
Two wonderful pictures of Dad, as a little & young boy, were taken at Middle River. In the first, special to today, he is about 4-years old, on a tricycle decorated with a large American flag. In the other, he is pure Huck Finn, by the river.
Most of my thoughts about Middle River are bittersweet. Dad had a wonderful album full of pictures of his mother's family around the end of the 1800s, beginning of the 1900s. They are laughing & being jolly, doing things at homes and out & about. A family that loved getting together & having good times. There were a few comments under some of the pictures, but no identification - not of place or time or people.
One of the things I impress upon my older friends & their families is the importance of identifying photos in priceless albums. That way, everyone knows who's who & what's what & when. My alarm today is how many people put together CDs & DVDs of pictures without doing a companion album of archive-quality photos with descriptions. Time & time again, I hear about a great photo display done for a 50th anniversary or 75th birthday, but no album. Puh-leeze, people of ALL ages - photo albums are not just priceless for our current day, but for all time.
Broke my heart, looking at that album of my grandmother's family, not having a clue who's who, even which one is her. I never got to know my paternal grandmother. She died when Dad was in his early teens, died after giving birth to a baby who only lived a few hours.
It seems that Dad's strong connection with her family broke after his mother's death, although I know that he visited his aunt & uncle at Middle River several times with his own family. (Was it "Uncle Morris"?) But the high times & family fun disappeared after my grandmother died.
Dad's father remarried a woman he'd been involved with before his wife's death, something his son & only surviving child held forever as the primary contributing factor to his beloved mother's death - he always held that she died of a broken heart. For him, there was no more Huck Finn on the river bank; until Mom came along, no more big smiles.
My paternal grandmother was a woman full of fun & high spirits & love for her little boy. And I can't even spot her, for sure, in her family album, because no one too the time to label them, beyond snappy comments.
If you have photos, put them in an album, label them. If you take photos, print out your favorites & the ones that capture special times & people, get them into albums & label them with who's who & what's what & where.
If you are a younger, include your olders in the annual project, which can take days or weeks - but do it. If you are an older, have the kids & grandkids over for a special afternoon(s) getting the pictures in the album & labeling them. Use it as an opportunity to share family stories from the past & wonder about what might be in the future.
Yes, it might feel like a bit of a chore to find the time & gather others together, but that's one of the very things most lacking in our day & age that my grandmother cherished - coming together regularly as family, celebrating our roots & wings.
Middle River - seeing those two words on an interchange sign touched my heart & changed my life (more about that later) & is my goad for getting my own family pics in albums, to print out my favorite digital photos & identify them. NOT the major productions so many people make of scrapbooking today, where the papers used & the extra frou frou distract from the pictures. If you have the time, fine. But there's no need to for fuss - just photos on a page, with a few words identifying the basics.
Families are too precious to let slip away. Do it, make it a celebration, have fun remembering & recording. For me, for my grandmother, for you & yours.
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