Finding Old Photos

I wanted to add a different "old" photo to my Facebook page, so I pulled out a sack (yes, sack not photo album...I am not that organized) and was digging through photos of me and my family from "way back". There is something both wonderful and fearful to see the years peeled away and there you are...infant, 3 with new tricycle, 5 with family in a different state, or dress-up-night with your sister, on vacation with your Mom. Now that both parents are long gone and adding many others in the photos as well have died, it brings a real sense of progression of time.

Who bears witness to my life? To whom am I bearing witness? I think of course of my immediate family: Gretchen, Ilsa and Craig. I mark their days with love and keep in my heart the sharing of their feelings, ideas, dreams and pains. I also see this in the lives of my sisters and nieces as well as my former brother-in-law-but-still-friend.

It is not only family to whom I bear witness. I am a keeper of memories for my friends. I treasure the moments that I call to mind of laughter, tears, fear and joy...they are the hallmarks of life well lived.

I wonder if others realize how very import a role "witness bearer" is to the people integrated into our lives. Do YOU think about the fact your life will really only be marked by in all eternity by the memories and stories shared by your family and friends? We can publish great works, or paint great pictures or act in great theater or create new technology, but the essence of who we are as people is not defined nor described by these sorts of things. Who we are as people can only be realized by the people we touch everyday; touch emotionally, physically, spiritually, intellectually.

Keep your heart open to bear witness to the lives of the people brought into your life. It is a sacred gift given you to hold this memory and share it with others so those to whom you are bearing witness will always live on in the hearts/minds of others.