I’m very fortunate to have a family that has preserved our memories for several generations after to enjoy. My grandmother has written books and there are loads of pictures and information about our family I am able look through any time I want. I know exactly where and who I come from and this is a privilege. I realize not many people are so fortunate. I have a friend who says she has hardly any family photos but would love to have some. I thought that was really sad and I’m very lucky to have these treasures. I love to sit and look at these pictures and become consumed with pride for my family. We are a strong, resilient people and have persevered through adversity, war and loss. I have pictures of my great-great-great-great grandparents. I think that’s truly amazing. I love the pictures of my grandmother and great aunts the most. They are always dressed in their pretty hats and fancy coats. It was such a different time and I have so much curiosity about what they were like when they were my age.
Fortunately, not only pictures have remained. There are amazing objects that have stood the test of time. When I was younger I often stayed on my grandparent’s farm in Rea Valley, Arkansas. It was a kid’s playground. You could run and play for days and never cover the same ground twice. I loved the smells and pulling moss off the giant rocks. Granny would let Ryan and I make teepees and have campfires. Once, she didn’t have any weenies so she gave us bologna to roast, lol. Papa would always let us be around the cattle but would always remind me, “Misty you stay back from that bull, Ya hear?”. It was truly a magical place and very special to me. If I tired of being outside, I would simply go inside and pilfer in my granny’s stuff because she had really fun stuff to dig through, frankly. I’d always start with her jewelry, (I have never questioned where my love of sparkly things came from), and then I’d move on to things Papa brought back from the war. On a particular visit I got ahold of the camera he used while serving in WWII. My grandfather served in the Japanese Occupation at Hiroshima and took pictures of this epic event in history with that very camera. Of course we know now that camera was probably loaded with radiation and I shouldn’t have been touching it but what’s done is done. I was just playing with the camera for something to play with not realizing what an incredible artifact this was. I somehow managed to get back home with the camera and it was thrown in a toy box never to be seen again.
The past few days my Aunt has been posting some amazing pictures of our family a few of us have never seen. I’ve fallen in love with these photos and my grandfather’s military photos have made me start thinking about that camera and have made me so angry at myself for being so careless with such a precious item. I’ve decided to do a wall collage of all my favorite photos so I went to a craft store this weekend to get supplies. I ran across glass display boxes that would be perfect and exactly what I would have that camera in and on display if I still had it. My mom kept both mine and my brother’s toy boxes in her shed. I thought there might be a chance it could still be in there so I called and asked her to look. It didn’t take long to get the call back that it wasn’t there. My heart sank. Mom told me to call Granny because she might have run across it and put it somewhere safe. Granny said she thought it might be in a box in my great grandmother’s house on the farm so there is hope still.
I really hope this camera is found and returned to me and I can treat it in a way I should have before. Mom studied nuclear medicine in college and says she thinks the radiation should be slim to none by now, lol. I think value for family heirlooms is something that really only comes along with age and experience. I’ve started hoarding as many things as I can get my hands on and I will keep them safe and they will then be passed on to my children and grandchildren. My family has done a great job of keeping the tradition going and who am I to argue with tradition?
Cpl Sherman B. Ott 19th Inf. 24th Division
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