What’s your grandma’s favorite photo of your grandfather or vice versa? Mom’s favorite photo of Dad? Great Aunt Millie’s favorite photo of Great Uncle Chester? Ask them. You might learn something you didn’t know about them, or even a weighty life lesson.
We asked for your romantic photos for our “My Favorite Picture of You” contest and we have received some wonderful submissions.
This photo from my grandparents’ album gave me an idea — we need our readers to raid their forefathers’ and mothers’ photo stashes, where there are undoubtedly some printworthy gems.
This is one of my grandparents’ favorite pictures of each other. My grandma — now in her late 80s — explains the photo.
“This was taken on my 40th birthday. Your grandpa is laughing and banging his head on the table saying, “I CANNOT believe you are 40!”
Now the photo has become one of my favorite pictures of them. As a woman not far from 40 myself, I had come to dread the number. When I look at my grandparents in this photo, I see age 40 in an entirely different light: Youthfulness. An expanse of life complete with dozens of grandchildren and great grandchildren sprawls out before them. More than 40 years of Christmases, weddings and celebrations, failures and successes, arguments and makeups, illnesses and recoveries lie ahead. My grandfather, who died in 2013, has a seemingly eternal 48 years left to live. This simple photo, probably shot by my father who was still in high school at the time, truly exemplifies the gift that is photography and its ability to preserve a profound moment in time.
So, since we can’t include my grandparents’ photo in the magazine, we need yours. Hopefully this helps to explain what we are looking to include in our “My Favorite Picture of You” contest. Now get browsing through those old photos because the deadline is Wednesday.
The only catch: the subjects should be neighborhood residents or have close ties to the neighborhood. Email your photos and notes to editor@advocatemag.com, subject: My Favorite Picture of You.
