The Value of Photos and Memories

I am living through the remnants of a nightmare here in New Jersey. While we were fortunate and only lost a windowsill and lived without power seven or eight days there are many who are trying to pick up the pieces and move forward. Most Jersey people, like our New York natives are pretty tough. We rallied after 9/11 and jumped to support our neighbors who had commuted to New York and were the victims as well as their families. Right now many from my town are going down to the worst hit areas and sorting through what can be salvaged and taking food, toys, blankets etc. to those people. My mother attends a local church and the assistant pastor there lives near a river and was hard hit. They were evacuated the day before and will not be able to return to their homes for months, if ever. They are still waiting for an insurance adjuster to make that determination. Last night we went over to help them get their new lap top and printer set up temporarily. They are staying in an apartment, part of my mother's home until they can find something more permanent. While there Joyce was painstakingly removing photos from a waterlogged album and placing them between paper towels to dry. This particular photo album contained a lot of information about her family which related to the pictures on each page. Most touching was the picture of her (she was 8) and her older siblings. Next to it was a large newspaper clipping about a tractor incident which claimed her father's life. She was telling me how her mother had to hire someone to run the dairy farm and split the profits with him. That left her mother with $13 for the week. Her mother had a small book which had the amounts of every penny she spent. Rice crispies were 13 cents a box then. She then shared something with me that she found that the piano lessons she so loved were 50 cents a week. That was a lot of her mother's small budget. She never knew and her mother continued giving them to her. There was also a picture of a lovely coat. As she had gotten older she learned that had been an adult coat that her mother took apart and remade for her. The collar yoke had a stain and her mother embroidered flowers to cover the stain and then matched them on the other side as well. I felt so enriched to be sharing these stories and photos of her history. Once again the importance of these things hit me. Her mother is long gone, as is the coat but she is keeping the memory alive. I saw her grandparent's wedding photo. It was a wonderful experience to share this with her. I think she enjoyed it too. Her furniture can be replaced, so many things can but these photos and stories are priceless and cannot. I'm so happy she was able to preserve them.