Then and Now.

My Mom and I finally went through the old box of family photos. Well, actually we went through one of the old boxes of family photos. Considering this is something we have been meaning to do for a hundred million years, organizing one box is a start. Part of the expedition was, for me, a hunt for baby photos that I could use to compare to Stella. Here we both are in the red and white stroller that my Mom saved. It was my stroller, then a stroller for my stuffed animals, and maybe will be the same for Stella when she outgrows it.

Then:

And now:

There is something eerie and wonderful about peering into the past with these photos. All of those babies are now starting families of our own and I look at us today, getting older by the minute. But then I look at these family photos and I see how young my parents, relatives, and their friends were. Looking at the photos was like having all of my family members, alive and deceased, in my living room all at once as I remember them from my childhood. Skinny, lots of hair, and the same bliss on their faces that I imagine I will see on our faces when we look back at our family photos 30 years from now. I posted a few of these old photos on my Facebook page and someone suggested that I take away the age with some simple photo editing trickery. But I like them just the way they are, imperfect and no longer crisp, but totally worth safeguarding with all my might.