Shutter with the memory --- jcarolek

We could sit still for a few minutes every now and then. I have proof of this fact, as you can see. The six of us “kids” were usually going in all directions, but, when Grandad wanted to take a picture of his family, we lined ourselves up on that sofa and smiled for the camera. Dad and Mom and Granther (and I think a great aunt) stood behind the sofa, Mom supporting the baby, Ray, who was the newest member of our clan.

I was six in this photo, and within six months my grandmother, standing on the far right side of the photo, had passed away of cancer. She was a young woman, being only in her mid-fifties at the time of her passing, and I still remember her soft tones and her steady approach to life. Granther was a sweetheart.

What struck me about this photo, when I looked at it tonight was that the two on the far right, Granther and my number three brother, Ted, are no longer with us. If the great aunt is who I think it is, she passed away too, after both Granther and Ted. I almost have a feeling of a curtain being drawn, from stage right to stage left…the characters who created my memories each slowly being taken “off-stage.”

But, with just that bit of nostalgia sneaking in to temper my mood, I am still able to enjoy the photo…the evidence of an active, full-of-life passel of kids who could live up to the grownups' expectations and sit still for just a few moments, to let the shutter create the memory.