In Pictures

This week I have spent a lot of time going through old pictures ranging from kindergarten to high school graduation.  I have begun to see those old pictures through an unrealistic, misty gauze now.  I forget about the trials and tribulations—I smile at the happy times and I ache for all of those classmates who never made it to this part of life.  The older I get, the more I understand that life is truly fleeting and fragile—it can literally be taken away in seconds, leaving those behind to wonder what could have been.  We wonder if it is silly to hope, to dream, to wish—to believe in possibilities.  Then each morning, the sun always rises and we greet the day with renewed hope.  In pictures you see the innocence of youth, the possibilities of the past, and the promise of the future.  You see life, laid out in a rectangular tapestry.  You see the events and people who forever changed you and shaped the person you are today.