Wednesday, September 16, 2009

As time goes by

With all the weddings in my family going on this summer, and having spent last weekend at the Davenport, and then digging out the wedding picture for the post on the Davenport, I have to add this picture. I'm sure it means more to me than it will to you--but maybe you'll be somewhat impressed with what hit me--how quickly time has flown. It seems like yesterday, and yet things have changed so quickly. (Ok. I'm beyond sounding like my mother. Now I'm sounding like my grandmother ;-)

Jenn, (furthest left) is my sister who was married two weeks ago. The two little girls on my right are my sisters Amy and Emily. Amy, closest to me in the picture, got married this last spring. The comparison between this family picture and our most recent one is so striking to me. I'm not getting older but everyone else sure is ;-)

Lindsey, Kim's niece on his left, is married and has a child of her own. And on her left is her younger sister Madison who is getting married next week. Craig, Kim's nephew on Madison's left was married last year too.

Unbelievable. This picture is only from 1994. My children are now older than the children in this picture. My family marches on through the years. I don't see it as much as I work on family history several generations back because it seems more distant. This closer family history seems to be rushing by faster, and yet if you were to lay it all out together, I'm sure it is *all* rushing quickly.

I tend to want to capture life and put it in a bottle--it all seems to be moving on so fast. Whatever did they do before cameras? But cameras don't seem to be enough. Does anyone else have this fleeting sense of life? How do you hold on to it all?

No wonder I'm a genealogist.

2 comments:

Drew Smith said...

Janet, remember how, when you were a child, time seemed to move so slowly (well, except maybe for recess)? It took forever to wait for the next birthday or Christmas. And we couldn't wait to be adults.

And now, when you're an adult, the years do seem to fly by. You lose precious family members and friends, and the children in the family seem to grow up overnight.

As a genealogist, I do worry sometimes that I might spend too much time trying to "capture" life, and fail to enjoy it as it is happening. It's all about striking a balance, I guess.

Janet Hovorka said...

Well said Drew.