I came across a rare photo of me and my parents a short time ago. Anyone could tell by looking at it that it had special meaning to whoever carried it for it was well worn. It was most likely carried by my father in his wallet because any man knows that anything carried in a wallet for any length of time gets pretty battered. This photo was faded, bent and cut down so it would fit into a small place like a wallet.

I didn’t remember ever seeing it because it was the only one. However, I knew where and when it was taken because it was taken in front of a church and I had others like it without my parents. It was taken on the day of my baptism, June 29, 1958 at Holy Savior Church in Linwood, Pennsylvania, and I was 4-years old.

The reason this is such a rare photo is because my parents were almost never in the same picture together. I’m sure it’s like most families where Dad or Mom is behind the camera taking most of the photos. In this case it was my mother that took most of the photos. She never liked to be photography so she was almost always behind the camera.

I knew that this photo would never be suitable for framing because even an expert in Photo Shop couldn’t fix this one, for it was way beyond repair. I just had to find the negative and I had a whole box full of them, hundreds of them. So one morning I sat down with the box and started the search. I felt sure it was in the box because my parents never threw away anything. I was right and about an hour into my search I found it. It was in great shape and still in the paper envelope that store put them in. I ran to my scanner, set it up for negative scanning, and began the scan.

I Miss Them Both

My parents are both gone now. My father died on April 16, 1997 and my mother was taken from us much too early at the age of 56 in 1977. I’d have to say that I miss my mother the most and I felt closer to her. She was someone you could always talk to and was a great confidant and friend. My father was more distant and spent most of his time working. I didn’t come to know him until later in life. I’m glad that we had the time together in the end.

Larry