Looking in the Rear View Mirror

Every age has a keyhole to which its eye is pasted. ~Mary McCarthy, On the Contrary......

My eyes are puffy , my nose hairs have captured the smell of old pictures, my fingers have paper cuts from retrieving pictures in envelopes I was sure were softened by age ......I'm not complaining because it has been worth the effort......I know for a fact I have looked at over 15,000 pictures ( Yes , there are still more boxes ) and my Mom hands me a red binder and says " You probably haven't seen these yet " .....Unbelievable .......Where do these albums come from ?. They're like hangers in a closet that multiply overnight when you're sleeping .

Professor Johnston often said that if you didn't know history, you didn't know anything. You were a leaf that didn't know it was part of a tree. ~Michael Crichton, Timeline

The pictures weren't in color. They weren't even black and white . It's that slight yellow tint and brown color that screams old history. Here was more of my family tree unfolding before my eyes . As I understand it, there were two Aunts ( Rose and Helen ) and one Uncle ( Carmelo Jr. ) that I never knew . One can only imagine the number of cousins, added to an already large number of cousins, I might have had . All told on both my Father and Mother's side the cousin count ( first , second , and third ) numbers over ninety blood relatives and a few of my cousins have kids by marriage ( though not counted in this exercise , these cousins are much loved )

History, like a vast river, propels logs, vegetation, rafts, and debris; it is full of live and dead things, some destined for resurrection; it mingles many waters and holds in solution invisible substances stolen from distant soils. ~Jacques Barzun, Clio and the Doctors

Mom and Dad were both born in 1930 , but Grandma and Grandpa on Mom's side were both born in the late 1890's....So the question is this ....Why this country and why this city ???.....One can only assume that like any Immigrant coming from a different land , the story they've heard is the same . The United States is truly a " Land of Opportunity "

Please stay tuned because the story definitely continues....