My great-great grandparents were pioneers in the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush. They went through a heroic amount of effort just to be there, and an even more heroic effort to make it work. But their efforts changed the course of my family. I can trace whatever successes I've had in my life directly to standing on the platform they built.
Before they got too old, they had a portrait made. I snagged it from my grandfather just before he died. I told my children the story my grandfather told me of what those people did, how pivotal they were...and show the pictures to prove they were real, live, breathing human beings. My kids can look at the portraits and see "reflections in history" of their own faces--their own eyes and mouths. My now-adult daughter was always awed by their stern expressions, but she's been through just enough life to now recognize those as their "game faces" back when life was really tough.
I'm a Boomer, and a lot of Boomers have been pivotal in their family histories--the first to move to the city, the first to go to college, the first to own a home, the first to own a business, the first to become an executive in a corporation. But a lot of us won't have portraits worthy to be kept and cherished, and our great-grandchildren will remember only the doddering fools who couldn't even wipe their own butts. They'll never see an image of us when we were vigorous and strong and doing those great things.
If any of the portraits I make today is cherished by someone 100 years from now the way I cherish the portrait of my great-great grandparents, it will be a good thing.
How true. I love reading about those days (and sometimes hate it as it can be so bittersweet).
