There’s an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I think there is truth in that saying. For instance, on my desk are some dear pictures of my mom as a girl. In one, all of three years old, standing beside her dog Spunky –a black and white bulldog whose tongue is hanging out in the heat. My mom’s arms are crossed and she’s smiling.
In another, she’s about ten years old and sitting on a pony she loved. She’s been boosted onto the pony’s back wearing Mary Jane shoes, Bobbie socks, and a dress and has a band-aid on her knee. She has long blond hair – something I never saw as she always wore her hair short. She’s smiling shyly at the photographer. Both pictures reflect my mom’s early love of animals and the outdoors.
From these early pictures, I know how I inherited my own love of animals and the outdoors.
More recently, I’ve had pictures of my sister Lisa, and her dog Dorje arriving in my reminders of this date. Some of these pictures are snippets of live moments. Lisa’s dog Dorje romping in the snow, hanging out with Lisa on the spare bed in her home office, eating out of his green bowl in her kitchen. I’ve looked at these pictures every year on these December dates since I figured out how to download them from her phone in 2019.
Lisa has been gone since early 2017 and this series of pictures are from 2016. They are the ones she took on Dorje’s best last days. He had been diagnosed with cancer that had spread through his body and was affecting his heart. Yet, even as he didn’t feel well, he managed a joyful romp in the snow. And I’ve looked at these pictures before, knowing the thousand words of what they meant to Lisa at the time.
What I didn’t realize until their arrival this week, was that the ones that are video clips have sound. I was delighted and astonished, even in the sadness of the moment, to discover Lisa’s voice in some of the clips. She’s talking to Dorje! I haven’t heard Lisa’s voice since 2017. It has been a real gift to discover her here…on pictures I’ve had for several years. To be able to hear even the briefest of words spoken by her to her beloved dog.
It feels like these pictures are truly worth that thousand words and then some.
As I’m writing, I’m realizing again the power of our phones with built-in cameras. We can capture so many more moments than we once did. (Okay, I’m revealing my age here). In our family, we still have old 8mm movie camera tapes. They are silent movies. Then there are VHS recordings made with camcorders with or without sound. Today, we can record both pictures and video clips with our phones – all places for making meaning and capturing powerful memories. Take the time to preserve these memories.
With the holiday season upon us, I wonder what images and sounds you wish to capture. Even if this season is a mixed bag of joy and grief, you can seek ways to connect the past and present. Take this season to live gently alongside your grief by sharing pictures and stories. Through the gifts of technology, we have so many ways to do that!
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