It  Is  Time

It’s time I said something, its been too long overdue all ready. They had stories to tell and they cant tell them anymore so its up to someone, might as well be me.

For me life has always been a learning experience. If I’m not learning then why would I be here. That’s why I know them, knew them and know their stories. Some were gods among mortals and some were simple people with something to say that time wouldn’t allow. Well I have the time, seems I’ve got that one thing in abundance so I will sit, ponder, fill out each picture and move along the line through what I knew and can still recall.

Each story will stand on its own and many of them will connect to one another. My life has been the compendium of their shared moments. My time line brought me to so many in such diverse American Regions and the full spectrum of cultures and ages creating a diorama of moving, living, breathing colors of life. It would be a crime not to bring those people back so their moments will live on in this anthology of stories.

It’s my hope to bring vivid color to these things like the bright sun smattered memories they are to me, so justice is done to the fullest. There is a word seldom used in the tech generation, Kodachrome. It was the new, vibrant true to life photographic achievement of the 1960’s that made all the world so beautifully accessible. That was so in its day but is now a more nostalgic way of saying that this wonderful thing existed. The advertising said so clearly. Stop for a moment, look more closely at the details of this particular moment. This was a life worth living and by sharing comes through the emptiness of the lost past into the present with the freshness of each day imbued with its original colors, sights, scents and heart. That seems somehow more appropriate to me since these all connect with the world that existed when Kodachrome came into being.

Today is the day they come back and greet new people with many of their joys, laughter and flaws. They will breathe new in hearts and minds that will see their time, their hopes and their pensive moments. A seaside chat at a summer brunch. A commonly understood laugh when showing old family pictures to a group of friends. We all would look at how we stood out so boldly in those images but only see it in hindsight. This is a chance to make the clarity of hindsight take on its full character. Learning from the simple moments and slowly building as each card is carefully placed and secured. Done so meticulously so the house of cards we lived gets pieced back together again.

With these things in mind the following anthology is more than a memorial to those who came before and more than a testament to their character. It’s a reminder that who we are now is another step in a process that is more than our own families and friends. There is a ripple effect that emanates from those of us who came before. They had meaning in their lives. They saw things we never will again and made a road that we can still walk. They gave a gift that silently passes to people they will never meet.