Capture a moment
With help from France, he won the Revolutionary War.
The least I could do was give him a sip of my drink. May, 2018
“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” ―
Looking back over years of photographs, especially if your collection (like mine) numbers in the tens of thousands, we find countless moments that we otherwise would not remember. Yet these tiny bits of time are what life is made of. We tend to fixate on milestones, and joyous or traumatic events, but everyday life is where we spend most of whatever time we are allowed here on earth. And a great many of these snippets of our past are delightful to recall.
This is a photo Susan took way back in May 2018 when she came to see Matthew and me. My new house in northern Virginia was still not finished, so we spent some of that visit at our beloved York home. We took in the historic sites of Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg, where George Washington plays a major role in events. I never tired of going to those places no matter how many times I visited.
For years I didn’t realize that other people posed with statues too; I thought that was just a silly thing my family did. I have a whole collection of various family members posing with statues. But I had forgotten about this one. I came across it a few days ago, and it was a lovely surprise. Thank you, Susan, not only for catching this moment, but also sending it to me on an SD card along with other photos for me to re-discover and enjoy.
I totally love these comical photos and the lighthearted fun they bring back. Perhaps you have a similar collection to make you smile. Feel free to share them here, or if you can’t find a way to upload them, email them to me at defeatdespair@verizon.net, and I’ll post them below in the comments.
Shout out to Raynard: I’m sorry your comments are not coming through on WordPress, but I truly appreciated your Mother’s Day remembrance and the lovely card. Please give Mary my love and tell her that I fondly hope Susan and I can someday make another road trip to see you– or you to see us again, only with less traffic this time!
Defeat Despair 
Good morning, Julia! That photo still makes me chuckle, too!
You ought to come to Minneapolis and have a chat with the Mary Tyler Moore statue, or with some of the Peanuts statues in St. Paul!
Perhaps someday I’ll return to Minneapolis, but not until the town becomes more like it was 20 years ago.
Well, Toronto has some fun statues through our city, too. Maybe we could meet there, some time!
Yes, Toronto is a very interesting city. Maybe someday we WILL meet there and I can see it again. I wouldn’t want to go there by myself. Not because I’d feel unsafe, but because I’d be missing Jeff too much. Remind me sometime to tell you about a very curious incident we witnessed and didn’t fully understand until we saw a story about it on the local news that night. Suffice it to say, things are not always what they appear…
Great photo. I love coming across unexpected memories like this.
Thank you! I am so sorry it took me so long to get around to these comments. Lately my life seems to be one crisis after another. Since my sister died, those much-loved unexpected memories are charged with grief, but also with gratitude.
Love this, Julia! We need more patriots who appreciate who we are, including our flaws. Knowing that in our constant efforts to amend them are our most endearing attributes.
-Alan
Alan, as always, I totally agree with you here. People seem rarely to notice how hard Americans work at correcting our flaws. I think we are one of the most self-critical countries on earth.