What You Shouldn’t Do On New Year’s Eve If You’re a Sentimental Sap

What You Shouldn’t Do on New Year’s Eve

I knew better. I really did, but I did it anyway. I was determined to clean out some cabinets and dressers that I wanted my daughters-in-law to have. So this afternoon I grabbed some garbage bags and decided to work on “out with the old, in with the new.”

A lot of our furniture is in our foyer right now due to our air conditioner malfunctioning and destroying our ceiling a few months ago. I was determined that not all of it was going back into our bedroom so I started cleaning. The first thing I did wrong was sit down in the floor to work on the purge. As anyone over 60 knows, once you get down you may or may not get back up. At the moment my back feels like it may break in two. Anyway, I was going along just fine until I reached a small trunk.

It was filled with family photographs.

Remember Clark Griswold in his attic watching old movies in Christmas Vacation?

That was me sitting alone in my foyer only instead of family videos…it was pictures. Like Pandora’s box, I never should have opened it, especially on New Year’s Eve.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the blessings God has given me but like I have said more than once, I am a sentimental sap and looking at old photographs is a powerful reminder of just how fast the years fly by.

I won’t bore you with the several hundred photos I looked at today but I am going to share just a few.

My brother was in a horrible car wreck this summer and I’m so thankful he’s still here with us! I can’t imagine life without him and his family. I’ve always thought of him as the best gift my parents ever gave me. FYI-I still love Cockers. Check out my Cocker Spaniel love at Kindred Cockers.

Our twins turned 30 December 26th of this year. It’s hard to believe that two 6’8″ men started as 6 pound babies. I look at this photo and remember so many things. I remember the man who knitted their hats (Mr. Childers, we went to church with him). I remember my cousin Sarah helping me get them to the pediatrician for their first visit. They had lost about a pound and she said, “These babies need formula now!” They started gaining weight and were much bigger within just a couple of weeks.

This picture is of all 5 of our kids at Christmas. It seems like it was just yesterday. I can almost hear myself yelling, “Hold him tight, everyone look this way. Don’t make weird faces!”

I’m sure each of you have your own treasure trove of photographs from when you were little or when your children were young. Maybe you aren’t a sentimental sap like me and you can look at pictures without dribbling tears. If so, I’m happy for you. It would be so much easier to remember the past without a lump in my throat and tears sliding down my face but at this point in my life I know better than to think I can change the way I am.

I am so very thankful I have these sweet memories…just remind me not to take a trip down memory lane on New Year’s Eve without a huge box of tissues.