Today was a tough day for this blog. I felt a bit like I had run into a brick wall; overcoming the nerves related to asking complete strangers or not-so-close acquaintances if I could use them for this blog. Unfortunately in this day and age, our identity, intellectual property and images of ourselves are far too often taken advantage of in the online realm. I acknowledge this in my own life, but also struggle to, even still, produce something that has integrity, value and does not exploit people- but rather CELEBRATES people. I am coming to terms with the fact, that although the online medium has issues, it also has some tremendous advantages and benefits as well. Despite the unfavourable aspects of what I am producing, I hope that it will help to touch or move people, make them assess their own lives and value the people around THEM more, and also offers me a chance to express my appreciations as well as some of my photographic endeavors.
Having said that, I didn't take a picture today. Even after the fact, I was having a huge amount of difficulty in deciding WHO I could choose. I had some pictures from the girls I went to the movie with, lots of my nephews, a few of my other family members, etc. But none of them were really standing out for the occasion. I wanted to wait and take something more meaningful for those people later on this summer. But still, I needed SOMEONE for today. I thought about the show Sex and the City, since I was making plans to go see the second movie that just came out, and thought about how they call "New York" one of the characters of the show; pondering if "Yarmouth" itself could become my Day 68. But as I considered even that, I knew I didn't have a super picture that stood out to me to use for that.
As I thought about Yarmouth, I realized that the main reason I lived here and called this place my home came down to two people I never met. Yarmouth was the town where my dad grew up as a child with his brother, sister, mother and father. This year I have had a lot more time to connect the dots of dad's side of the family with a visit to my father's mother's half brother in England. Knowing these details and filling in more of the gaps only makes you feel a stronger connect to your roots, your family and yourself. If it had not been my dad's parents raising him in Yarmouth, then maybe my story would have been different, maybe my father wouldn't have brought my mom and us kids back here to grow up. Sadly, my father's parents died in a tragic car accident when he was only a teenager. My mother never met them, and thus, neither have I. I often wonder about what they were like- about their passions, interests, personality- if I am like them or have any traits that were passed on genetically, that could help me feel that connection stronger. I don't really know too much about them- my grandfather was in the War, worked in communications for the Canadian military or something like that, loved taking pictures of everything and anything, met my mother in England, she came over as a war bride, she was very musical, taught piano, played the organ at church, they wed, had kids, were well liked in town; and the rest is history. I love them even though I didn't know them. Here's my tribute to them in photos. The old style one is from my grandfather, Walton, scanned in this winter from an old negative, it shows my grandmother, Josina, my uncle and my dad.
Their grave is in the cemetery in Yarmouth, I trudged through knee deep snow one sunny February day this year.
Theme song for today: Home by Michael Buble
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