Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Past

Among the zillions of questions that come out of my 4 1/2 year old daughter’s mouth each day is an almost constant request for stories.  Some of her favorites are stories about my husband and I when we were little.  How strange and interesting to her little mind that we were once little like her, having adventures like her, learning and growing like her.  It ties us together, those stories, in a magnificent way. Connected to the past, embracing the present, and looking forward to the future occurs naturally and with ease through the stories of our lives, and our dreams for the future.  May 299

Recently, when visiting the childhood town of my husband we stopped by the home he lived in when he was her age.  Many of her favorite stories of his childhood take place in this home and she is quite familiar with it in her imagination.  The home is vacant right now and rumored to be scheduled for demolition.  Despite this I have to admit that my design mind was racing with ways to turn it into a darling little happy home again.  It has lots of potential don’t you think!  May 303

We explored the yard and the infamous playing spots of my husband and his band of brothers, peeked though the windows, and relived the stories of his childhood. May 306 I recommitted during this visit to the art of recording our past.  Not just the events and joys of our lives together…but where we live those lives together.  It may seem like just a place to live at the time…but to our children and their children it is the backdrop of our lives.  A home is truly central to all that is our lives.  And recording those homes with images and descriptions provides an instant and powerful connection between the past and the present.  It is not just a picture of a house you once lived in…no, it is so much more. 

  May 296