A LITTLE TRIP TO THE PAST

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. Not much going on. I was in the den making some envelopes for the gift cards I just finished when from the basement I heard the whir of the shop vac. I couldn't figure out what my husband was doing down there, although it most definitely needed a good cleaning, I was fairly sure he hadn't succumbed to the urge. I was just about to get up and yell down the stairs at him to see what he was up to when he came up and then I heard him in his junk drawer. I called out and asked him what he was doing in the basement. He said that he had pulled out the old slide projector and was trying to get it running so we could look at all our slides. I thought well that will keep him busy for the rest of the afternoon, so I went back to my envelope making assured that I wouldn't be subjected to those slides because that projector was so old that all the parts had surely rusted or corroded or whatever old projectors do when they become unusable. It wasn't but a scant half hour later when I heard him coming up the basement stairs with guess what??? A big smile on his face and the projector!!! He said he got it to work. Well you know the rest of this little piece. Whether I liked it or not, we were going to view, again, those pictures that chronicled the years since 1958. In those slides were copious pictures of scenery from various trips, and from the trip to California that my husband made on his motorcycle, when he went to basic training for National Guard. There were pics of roads and trees, and hills and state signs as he left and entered. All the usual pictures that everyone has taken in their life. Sprinkled in the scenery pictures were some people. Smiling from those slides were my husbands parents and aunts and uncles and brothers and sister in laws and nephews, and cousins and then in later trays of slides, Our own family. Those slides told of our wedding,(Not to brag but I had forgotten how cute we both were when we were younger). If you ever wonder what you saw in your spouse or long term partner, just look at those old snap shots. It was all there. Our honeymoon the birth of our first child, I was so scared when he was born.! Now you wouldn't think that I should be frightened because I came from a large family, and I was the oldest so I was used to kids, but this one was my own and I had the ultimate responsibility, Now that was a scary thing. I am surprised our dear son made it to adulthood without more scars than he did. I suffered from a very severe case of postpartum depression, although back then that was not even heard of. I struggled through the days so depressed that I did just what I had to do, with no energy to do anything extra. Well lest I digress. That was just one of the memories that those slides brought back to me. Most of them, in fact the majority of them brought lovely sepia toned memories Before this little presentation started I really wasn't in the mood, but now I am glad I sat through it. If on some winter Sunday afternoon when you don't have much to do, I suggest you get out your old pictures and look at them again. It will give you a new perspective on where you have been and how you got to where you are. Well that is all for now. Bye. Gloria Dee/Grandmother Handleys Closet.