Bittersweet turned sweet!
Many of you understand the ‘thrill’ of the search for a treasure.
Treasures that come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, textures and values.
Some of these treasures have value that can be felt only by the new owner…a value that can’t be measured by the standard of anyone else.
I recently {Saturday} came across just such a treasure. A family photo album dating 1918-1934. For most people it would seem odd to develop a connection with a family that lived so long ago, where there was no personal connection whatsoever.
It’s hard to explain.
It partly comes from my own love and devotion to family…that penetrates through many generations.
It also comes from a love and devotion to things of the past…clothing, shoes, homes, loving families, mannerisms as well as the colors and textures that come from the wonderful old black and white and sepia-toned photos.
As I have looked through this album over and over, dreaming of the wonderful creations that I could make with these beautiful photographs {scanned and copied, of course}, I began to feel as though this album didn’t belong to me.
With family names very prominent throughout the album, it took Mr T & I about an hour to find a possible family name with an e-mail contact.
It took just a short bit to receive a reply verifying that we had indeed found the right family.
♥ bitter sweet ♥
These two ‘tea-time’ pictures are some of my favorites.
Bill is the grandfather of the man who I am in contact with.
Here is a photo of all of the children from the family.
I’m sure that you can hear in my tone that it’s wonderful and difficult all at the same time to part with this new-found treasure but when it was mentioned in one of the e-mails today that this is ‘an unexpected Christmas blessing’, the bitter was removed from the sweet and it just became sweet!
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Just tinkering around…
click on picture to see all posts related to my 1″ Life Sampler
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Welcome to my place ~ so glad to have you…Elaine
taken with the creative eye {& finger} of Tres Birds Photography
This on-line journal is my outlet for talking about the creative elements that make up my days. They are the things that make me smile and I love sharing them with others.
tinker: {ting-ker} ~verb 1.a person skilled in various kinds of work [jack {jill}-of-all trades] 2.to repair, adjust or experiment with 3.an act or instance of tinkering.
verve: {vurv} ~verb 1.enthusiasm or vigor, as in artistic work; spirit 2.vivaciousness, liveliness, animation
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How wonderful! I knew there was someone out there if you could find them.
It is so good of you to contact the family as you have!! Wonderful pictures!!
Oh my Elaine, this chokes me up! How neat for the family!!! A few months ago I found a picture on ebay of all places of my Grandpa as a toddler…he grew up in Western WA…someone bought a bunch of pictures from an antique dealer then was selling the pictures on ebay…my Grandpa had a VERY unusual name, I had googled his name one day and this picture came up on ebay…I called my mom, sent her the link to the photo and agreed, it was my sweet Grandpa 18 months old. :) My Grandpa has been gone 8 years next month. I miss him so. My brother and SIL are having a boy in February and in honor of my Grandpa using his name as a middle name for my nephew, I gave them the picture…
That’s a great real-life story, Kristine! >
BTW…my mom loved the charm! I will be in touch about gettin another one made and an additional one of my mom’s other brother and her family as a child on the other side!
Elaine, that is really awesome! What a VERY “sweet” gift to give to a family… returning such precious and timeless photos… Very cool story!
Elaine, how awesome you found such a treasure, and then to find the family…sounds like right out of a movie to me. I don’t know about you, but I love to stare at old photos and check out every detail. I sometimes wish I could step into the picture.
Oh my Elaine, I can see how hard it would be to part with such gorgeous pictures, I just love the tea time ones too, and the little ‘grandfather’ in his adorable little suit – but what a treasure this will be to the family!!! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas my friend – hugs to you xo
What an amazing gift you are able to bestow on the “rightful” family. The keeper of the album had great foresight in labeling the photos with such care…she could have never imagined the events that would transpire…but God knew. It took someone caring and selfless to search out descendants of those pictured. God knew that, too.
What a blessing all around!
oxo
soo sweet:)
Hi Elaine,
Beautiful post! Blessings to you and your family & our very best to you in 2010. Glad & Cel/Junebug
I love old photos too! What an amazing find! And even more amazing that you located the family and are giving them such a wonderful gift.
How very generous of you. Look how God is using you to restore a blessing to this family! What a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Awesome story, Elaine–and so good of you to part with this treasure so the people with flesh and blood ties could re-connect with their past. Oh the stories those pictures could tell. . ..
[…] am writing this as a follow-up to this post. If you haven’t read it please take the time to do […]
This is such a sweet story. I’m off to read the follow up!
It really was one of those sweet ‘happenings’ that felt like it happened for a reason…
I recently obtained a leather gym bag full of old pictures. You have inspired me to dig deeper and find family it belonged to.
thank you Pastor Joe Kiehn Freelife Assembly