"Them times!" How we can find new/old memories"

Photos are powerful possessions!

After my sister Tarnia was killed I couldn’t look at a photo of her without crying.

It took a long time for the pain associated with her smiling image to disappear. And then, all I wanted to do WAS look at photos, stacks of them…so I would never forget……..

                     My sister Tarnia and Tone her husband.


But over time, most of my photos of Tarnia, Mum and Savannah have lost that penetrating pain that I got if I took them out and touched them. They still suspend me in a time warp of memories, however, they’ve become so familiar now that the impact is almost generic. It’s like your mind becomes accustomed and familiar with the same images.

However, last week, my brother in law Tone, Tarnia’s husband must’ve trawled through his old pictures and generously decided to send me a few…of Tarnia, Mum and Savannah.

So without warning, with my morning cup of coffee steaming in front of me, sitting at my computer, I opened an email he sent simply titled ‘them times.’

As my brain registered the images, it was like snap! Tears filled my eyes and my hand went up to my open mouth. Then….that gnawing feeling of longing hit and finally a smile, a sigh and….comfort.   Like I’d just been hugged. The images awakened my memory and took me straight back to some perfect moments forever frozen in time……

Mum, Alexander and the twins under Tarnia's old tree....beautiful memories!


This photo I’d never seen before!  It stirred a new/old memory inside me.  As my eyes feasted on it, I could almost feel the soft grass under my feet and hear the cicadas chirping and smell the Summer that was in the air.   I could hear my Mum’s laughter, and Alexander telling her a story, probably about Harry Potter…..and the sweet voices of the twins saying “Look Nannie!”

There were so many days when Mum would sit in the yard, in the sunshine with the kids. In a chair under Tarnia’s shady Plane Tree and cry. But being amongst nature eased her pain…and this photo reminded me of that!

   Savannah and Charlotte - just before Savannah was diagnosed.  She looks like a little doll!


And how I adore this one of Savannah that I’ve never seen before either…..looking like the Angel she is! With pink wings on her back and her pink jelly shoes on her feet at a time when she could walk!  

And to see Charlotte’s grubby little face made me smile among my tears. The photo took me back….time stopped just for a moment to record her beautiful image forever. It made me realize how old images can provide comforting flashbacks and add to memories that I had forgotten, precious memories.

Photo’s do help you survive…so I urge you to contact family or friends that may have some of your loved ones images captured somewhere.

They can whisk you back with loved ones who've died, to catch a Summer of sunny days or yesteryears gone by.   And even though we can’t go back, we can remember vividly from the images and create old/new memories that have been trapped on film for eternity.

I hope one day Dempsey will look back on our photos and smile…and remember ‘them times'.....


(Today's post is for Tone...thank you! x)

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