Kodachrome
Living life and big birthdays
“Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day.”
In preparation for my 60th birthday, I spent many hours putting together a slide show of my life. For years, I have made sporadic attempts to sort out my photos, and I’m old enough not to mean my online library. The photos I refer to include the inherited Victorian family members whose names are lost to history, to the random few black and whites I have of my parents and grandparents, to my blurry early childhood when no one knew how to take a good, centered photo, through to my young adult years before we all went digital. I also have random Polaroids, including the infamous Cowgirl.
There was something wonderful about dropping film off to be developed and waiting to see the magic you thought you captured. Every picture really is a story, from the horrendous hairdos and outfits we chose for our school photos to the set of a jaw or a glint in an eye in other captured moments. We remember (mostly) what was happening and what certain thoughts are being conveyed through time. I spent the first run through of the slides at my party narrating each photo until Richard told me it was okay to stand down. Everyone knew what they were seeing. My friend Diane pulled up a scanned photo on her phone of her and her sister in their ballet costumes that completely matched Diana and me. And it hit me that while I have never been comfortable being the center of attention, what I do love is making others remember, laugh, and share our experiences and enjoy who we once were and who we are now.
It is no surprise that I am sentimental. No surprise at all. That is why I made sure to include the first wearing of my navy gingham babydoll dress with stars, and coordinating red gingham bubble panties made for me by Mary Kimball for my sixth birthday. The first photo is mostly about the love between David K and me as childhood sweethearts. However, I kept that dress, and it was the perfect thing for Kate to wear when Richard became a US citizen in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2009.
While picking my favorite photos, I recognized there were three and a half folks that came up the most in my life: my husband, my daughter, my sister, and my long-lost-to-me cousin, David H (the half because I haven’t known him in 30 years). However, there were so many others besides friends from all walks of my life, obviously, my parents ranked highly, as do my nieces. Becoming an aunt took the pressure off becoming a mother off me, if it never happened for me, and I have so many photos of us in complete mutual adoration.
So, here’s my point: enjoy your developed photos and make yourself a slideshow. Don’t put parameters on it that will stall the creative process, such as labelling decades and places, unless you’re really good at the detail work. Take your photos out of the boxes and relive the joy today. I will tell you what to do about your digital library when I figure it out, but life is good.
