I talk to my Dad on the phone every morning at 7:30; actually, it's more than that- we FaceTime every morning! We upgraded our communication style when COVID began, not knowing then how long it would be before in-person visits resumed; we've been "seeing" each other daily since then. He was telling me the other day how he can't seem to remember things anymore, things that used to be so familiar to him: restaurant names, places, things like that; it discouraged him. I had just cleaned out that closet (former post) to make way for Christmas decorations and found a boxful of old photographs with people in them that I wasn't sure I could identify. Thinking that this might be the perfect memory-jogger for him, as well as a great way for me to get information for labeling these photos, I showed this one to him today. All that I knew was that I'm the baby being held in this picture and that this was taken at my grandparents' home. Dad is a wealth of knowledge; as soon as he saw this scene he told me that this was my great aunt, my grandmother's sister. From there he regaled me with tales about the car in the background (I learned it was a 1947 Ford that belonged to my grandfather) where it was purchased and how many miles it had on it at the time, what options it had, and how he had "borrowed" it to take my mother on a date because he liked it so much better than his own car at the time. He even recalled what, and when, my grandfather traded it in for years later. It was the best "visit", we both enjoyed it; me in the listening and he in the happy remembering and retelling, he was really excited about that. I'm going to pull out a few more to look at this week, it's a great way to start the day!
