Sunday Morning Reflections - The Art of Letting Go

​I always go off track on Sunday mornings, but this past week tied in a little of every emotion you can imagine and photography was a huge part of it all.

My sister came in from Philly, and we spent the week clearing out my Mom and Dad's place. It was an emotional roller coaster, but loaded with great memories, especially the 2-3 hours it took for us to clean out a closet of photo albums! Over and over again we'd find images that took us both back to events when we were kids along with stories about older relatives long gone.

Every photograph told a story. This one of my mother with her first camera just cracked me up, because as an adult she just couldn't take a decent picture. Every camera was defective, because "it cut off heads"! My Dad was on a never-ending quest to find her a point and shoot camera that reduced the chance of missing body parts in every image. LOL

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My great grandparents, circa 1880. Catch the lighting - right down to a little catchlight in the eyes!

Often the time span of the images was 100+ years or more. My folks kept everything, and many of the images were of their grandparents and even one that we think would be our great-great grandfather, but there's nobody left to confirm. So, there's my first point for this morning's post. Regardless of your age, take the time and get your oldest living relative to look at some of those old photographs, so you, at least, know your roots. Plus, the stories that will come along with those images should be priceless.  

Looking at the title I gave the post this morning, there is no art to letting go. Each of us is different, and, however, we emotionally let go is unique to every situation. So, the art of it all is simply there is no art, no right or wrong and certainly no guidelines. Even with the tears here and there, going through a week of memories was the most fun I don't ever want to do again!

As always, make it a great weekend. Take the time to hug somebody special in your life and don't forget to hug for at least eleven seconds. Most important of all, slow down for a little while - that's what Sunday's are all about, even in peak season. You've got to take the time to recharge a little or you won't be good to anybody, including yourself!