Right after I first fell in love with the German man I married, my mother died. (No, the shock didn’t kill her.) Something I recognize but don’t dwell on is that my decision to move to Europe is tied to her death. Somehow the most important link to my life in America suddenly vanished. When I left the States I had a full if overly busy life with two jobs, one which gave me health care and retirement benefits, and close friends. But as I’ve written elsewhere [1], the siren call of a European man and European life style (make that Life and Style) won my heart.
I was surprised – and deeply moved – to discover that my friendships and attachment to places I love stayed alive, even with one or two years or even longer between visits. When I was a kid, my family had moved every few years thanks to my dad’s job with the Forest Service. I know how to make new friendships, and how to keep old ones. The international stuff is harder, but it’s do-able.
My annual visit to the US this year is bathed in wistfulness and memories. This is my first flight back without seeing my father Bobbo. For twenty-five years I believed that losing Mom broke the golden thread connecting me to my old life. Turns out, a less obvious thread – but one equally as golden – tied me to Bobbo. He became my main reason to return. With both parents gone now, my sisters have become guardians. They, and I, are the keepers of the memories.
I write down anecdotes, wanting to get the details right. I fret over the little stuff. Did we really never lock our doors living in Cazenovia? What year was the big snowstorm of our childhoods in Connecticut? I remember Mom sent Bobbo out to meet us (my sisters and I trudging in rubber snowboots through drifts chest deep, on our way home from my friend Doris’s house). But how old were we? Was it all three of us? And what year was it? Mom and Bobbo would have known these details. My sisters and I have to puzzle them out, placing our recollections together in a common picture.
The particulars are fading. They curl like the edges of old family photographs.
But these pictures make up earlier lives. It’s why we treasure old camera footage, precious cassette tapes of voices long silent. When asked what you would take first if your home was about to go up in flames, people almost always say, the family photographs. Because gazing into the eyes of an old photo is really looking back into what we looked like, and what life felt like.
It’s a way of going home.
NOTES: [1] Go to my post J’aime la Vie to learn why I stayed in Europe! © Jadi Campbell 2017. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see Uwe’s photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.
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Beautifully said. We sometimes hear those who have lost everything in a fire say that what was lost were only material things and can be replaced. I appreciate such values, but the truth is that old family photos are irreplaceable, so I would definitely be one of those would take the family photographs if my home were about to go up in flames — they are what help keep alive the memory of our loved ones and those who came before, whom our loved ones loved.
I keep meaning to scan all my old photo albums for just that reason. And yes: to retain the stories of those who our loved ones loved, too.
Excellent post. Thanks very much for putting this into words!
Glad you liked it!
Having emigrated to Canada from Australia at the age of 33, 33years ago, I know Just what you mean about friendships staying alive, and me and my sisters piecing the memories together now both parents are gone. What a lovely piece you’ve written Jadi. It captures a lot of what it is to be an expat.
Alison
Alison, what a fascinating insight: the loss of a parent is a kind of exile. Thank you for your comment.
Wao. Amazing. Very touching. Your personal stories are the best. They come from your heart.
I am writing more of the personal stories lately Jochen! More to come.
Just beautiful, Jadi.
Thanks Linz!
Very nice piece, Jadi. The last “But these pictures” paragraph is perfect…
… and this post was one that I didn’t have the right photo for, which seemed only fitting
Lovely post.
Thanks Peggy. This one is from the heart
Beautiful tribute Jadi
Beautifully said
And as you know, when it comes to our loved ones, distance is irrelevant.
I just wrote to a high school friend who commented on this post that it’s not fear of losing our loved ones; it’s the fear of forgetting.