Sharing pictures of my dad
I'm having a tough emotional day.
I found an external drive full of old photos and waves of melancholy have been rushing up on me throughout the day.
It's not the anniversary of his death. Not his birthday. It's not a holiday.
But as I write this, I cannot help missing my DAD so much that the weight of it pulls the tears straight from my heart.
He was my best friend and ardent advocate. Everything I learned about temperance, love and patience began with him.
So I wrote a little poem to go with some of the photos I've found.
Sorting through old photos...
Dad at ~7 years old.
Tokens of yesteryear
My parents before I was a twinkle in their eye.
Group shots
Celebrating someone's birthday was always a thing.
Funny shots
Yes, dad. That hurts. That's why we don't do that.
Youthful moments
He certainly loved music.
And miracles
Dad with my newborn niece.
Visiting these moments
My wedding day.
With a cold click of the mouse
I have a piece of dad with me always.
Yearning to have a moment
When I could hold you again.
I think this is my favorite picture with me and my dad.
John M. Buley
October 24, 1950 - June 22, 2010
 | This is a 100% STEEM POWER post. |
|---|
Your comments, upvotes and shares are always appreciated.
Thank you.
For older content, visit my Steemit blog page
  |  |
|---|
aw....Mere.....my heart!!!! What a beautiful tribute to your dad. Those pictures say love and security and togetherness.....I love your dad's smile - he seemed to have had a real mischievousness about him. I especially love the picture of your mom and him before you were.
I too looked at pictures today....conflicting emotions. My files are a mess and I have way too many copies of the same thing. but that's not important. What is important is the memories, good and not so good.
Peace be with you tonight....
Thanks, love. I don't know what's come over me tonight but I'm a mess. I'm getting a piece of pie, a cup of coffee and trying to get some writing done. I've got a Nov. 30th deadline and I can't stop steeming! It's time to knuckle down.
Use your emotions to write. Try to bring your focus back to task. And shut Steemit down.....it's like a magnet sometimes!!!!
All right @countrygirl - I had a cry. Went to bed...and after I respond to all you wonderful people, Steemit is getting shut down until I get at least 5000 words done TODAY. And once that's done, I can come back to play.
so did you get 5000 words done? hmmmm? (fingers tapping)
This post has been ranked within the top 80 most undervalued posts in the first half of Nov 28. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $4.98 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Nov 28 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.
That beautiful memories my great friend @ merej99, beautiful photos, I was looking at that photo of you and your father, and I wondered what would happen to your head at that moment, it is a very particular look.
Always when one sees photographs from a later time inevitably gets melancholic.
I as a child have only one photograph when I was 8 years old, there are no records of photos of my father or my mother, something that always caught my attention, so with my son we have thousands.
Congratulations on this beautiful memory. thanks for sharing
I am sorry to hear you have no photographs of your parents. Sometimes I avoid going through my old photos - even ones when my kids were very young because of the sweet, sweet memories of them. They're just capsules of time but like my dad, I don't have those chubby arms giving me hugs anymore. LOL I guess I just need a hug and all of these wonderful messages is like a big internet HUG.
Your poem is really emotional and perfectly accompanies each photograph. I have a lot of photos of my parents that always reminds me that although spent a lot of time, they always keep the same smile... Just like the pictures of your father. That's a really good emotional post.
Thank you so much @pravusdie. I've always been a bit more reserved and try to put the emotion into my fiction writing, but the feelings were too big yesterday and I had to put them somewhere. I should probably reach out to my family to see if they have more photographs so I can scan them for the rest of the family to cherish.
This is a really wonderful collage of photos. Thanks for sharing. So sad for you.
You know what surprises me @littlescribe - that the feels are still this strong on random days. Somewhere in my head I always think, hey I'm nearly 45, a grown woman, who hasn't lived with dad in a very long time. How can I miss him so much? But when I think about it, my dad and I talked or visited with each other nearly every day he was alive. It's left a huge gap.
You know, they are probably less random than you think. Like with the clock numbers--there are probably a lot of little memories tucked in there that have strong neurotransmission attached to them. It's like when I brush my teeth in a certain bathroom in my house, I get flashbacks of a single memory from over 15 years ago of a person who used to be in my life, when we were brushing our teeth together in the bathroom at his aunt's house. And I don't even like that person! But for some reason, my brain thinks it's an important enough memory to keep around. Not sure why! Probably because it's a happy one.
Revel in the moment. You deserve a good cry now and then!
I have definitely taken comfort in your words and I think that's pretty amazing how there are so many associations - from certain smells to the clock thing to standing in the shadow of a memory. I guess the cry was the pressure cooker that I am whistling. LOL
Those look like lovely memories you hold in your heart.
Just beautiful @merej99
Thank you macksby. Hopefully next time I'm compelled to share photos, I can laugh. The emotions were too big to hold inside yesterday, but my heart is full with memories and I'm so thankful to wake up to all of these wonderful comments. XOXOX
Those emotions show us all how special your dad was...
Beautiful pictures. I know it was an emotional day but I truly hope you were reminded of a lot of good times. He looked like a many who had many of them.
Oh my gosh, have I got stories about him! LOL
I keep telling myself that I'll write them all down, but sometimes even the happiest or funniest stories make me cry and then I'm so drained I'm useless for anything else. I am determined to make that happen though. We are the legacy for our parents, right?
Hey, certainly know the feeling here and that it can just come at any seemingly random time.....thanks for sharing something so personal and I hope that you find some peace in these memories.
It's funny. I think about my dad every day. Usually it's with a silly thing like seeing the clock hit 12:34 because he always loved numbers so he would just sing: one, two, three, four - every single time! LOL But yesterday, I don't know...it was just time to cry again. Thank you for taking the time to leave a message. It means a lot. :)
Sure thing. It's funny, shortly after I read your post, @jrcornel posted something looking for funny stories about people and their animals and my dad had some animals that he loved so dearly and so I shared a couple tidbits about him with them. But certainly, some days are heavier than others.
That is kind of strange. It's almost like the communal mind at work here.
I'll be a bit more diligent about visiting your posts. I've got a WriMo deadline looming. I'm way short on my word count and way too stubborn to give up.
what is WriMo?
Yes, there is some sort of communal mind at work here. Think I'm going to dig through an old notebook now and find a poem to share... Be well
WriMo is short for NaNoWriMo...which is short for National Novel Writing Month - where people worldwide commit to writing 50K words toward their novel in 30 days. I'm about 21K words short of reaching goal by midnight, November 30. I've got 5K done so far today and still writing dialogue so I'm hoping it's a 10K word night! :)
Things to remember by good to put it here because the internet never forgets. :-)
I am so sorry about your father. I can't imagine the pain of losing a parent. Unfortunately, we all have to face that challenge at some point. There is nothing wrong with grieving years after his passing. I would be doing the same.