LJ Idol: Week 2: The Missing Stair

[flipflop_diva]

Life can be measured in all sorts of ways — by days, by years, by degrees earned, by places lived, by kids had — but sometimes I think my life can be measured by photos of a group of people sitting on a staircase.

No one really knows how it started. “The kids” (as we will forever be known, even when we are ninety) were too little to remember, and “the parents” have long since forgotten. Maybe it was started by my father, who thinks that every minute without a photo is a minute wasted. Or maybe it was started by one of the mothers, who wanted to remember how cute her daughter looked all dressed in red and green and patent leather. Or maybe it was an accident, three little girls sitting on a staircase and a camera nearby happening to flash.

However it began, most every year of my life is marked in my mind by 10 children and 10 adults crammed onto a tiny staircase and smiling at a camera.

Somewhere in a guest room that is a little too messy, I have a scrapbook that is full of just those photos. They span more than twenty years. Flipping through that book is like watching time go by. Children get older, parents get grayer, but the smiles are always there, and the friendship is obvious. Arms wrapped around each other, heads pressed together. Sometimes someone is laughing, always someone isn’t paying attention.

Moments in time, captured forever.

Sometimes there is a missing person, a stair not filled. The year Jimmy couldn’t get off work, the year Darlene was sick, the year my mother passed away.

The pictures stopped around that time. Not just because of that, though carrying on a tradition is always harder when you know it’s forever changed. But also because we grew up. The kids. We scattered in all directions — to college, to jobs, to other parts of the country. My dad got remarried. He made new friends.

It’s harder for everyone to see each other now. It’s harder to keep in touch. Most of our communication comes from “likes” on a Facebook page, as if saying, “Hey, I’m still here somewhere!”

But sometimes it feels like a part of me is missing. Sometimes I look at a staircase and see shadows of the past.

This year, though, we’ve made a pledge. We’re all getting together in October. The parents, the kids and this time the grandchildren will be there — one four-year-old boy and three little girls who are still learning to walk and talk. We’re going to sit on a staircase, and we’re going to take a picture.

And maybe next year we’ll do it again. And then the year after that.

And maybe someday, twenty years from now, those three little girls and one little boy will also have a book of photos to look back on and remember and sometimes miss. And they, too, will mark the moments of their lives with every flip of a page.


Written for therealljidol Week 2

Comments

[basric.livejournal.com]

A very sweet story. I hope you keep up the tradition.

[kecharasmoon.livejournal.com]

This makes me think of that newish commercial that works backwards with family photos. Only better, because it's a true story vs just a commercial.

Nicely done!

[witchwife.livejournal.com]

This is such a beautiful idea. I wish I had something similar to look back on.

& it translated so well into the topic this week. Well done!

-N

[c-hrista.livejournal.com]

I love this. I cried.

[i-17bingo.livejournal.com]

I wonder how that gap will be interpreted in the future, or how it will be remembered by those who were around (but not really around) when it happened.

[i-will-not-say.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a lovely tradition, and I hope you are able to revive it. :)

[sarcasmoqueen.livejournal.com]

Very sweet. I've always wanted to do some sort of traditional photo with my family.

[lawchicky.livejournal.com]

Glad you're going to go back to the tradition= sometimes those little things wind up meaning a lot.

[violaconspiracy.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a lovely tradition.

[iwriteflash.livejournal.com]

This speaks to me on a personal level! Wonderful :)

[belenen.livejournal.com]

this actually made me tear up a little. Great job!

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

A very sweetly sentimental piece.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

This was bittersweet and heartwarming, and a very worthy tradition to try to resurrect. I hope you succeed. :)

[solstice-singer.livejournal.com]

It's awesome that you're all getting together in October. It's hard, as people et older and have families of their own. I think it's important to carry on with certain beloved traditions for as long as is possible though.

[snarkerdoodle.livejournal.com]

I love that you're trying to resurrect this particular tradition -- it's a great one. :)

[cheshire23.livejournal.com]

I love this tradition, and wish I had one like it.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I really liked this take on the topic. :D

[kehlen.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading your story. It is very warm :)

[beautyofgrey.livejournal.com]

This is very sweet. I am horrible at taking photos of our family, and I wish I'd done more in the past, if only because...there's that extra thread of tradition that helps to hold everybody together.

[amaranthine3.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I can comment here, but I just wanted to say that it's a truly beautiful story ♥ It made me a bit nostalgic and made me regret that I've never had any sort of such tradition in my family that would allow me to cherish the memories like that. But it also gave me hope and an idea that maybe I could be the one to start it one day. Thank you so much for this entry, Kristine <3