Labeling Pictures...

So I've been organizing my pictures and I ran across this:

She's beautiful!

Its an old tintype from the 19th century. 

Who was she?

What was she thinking?

What had she been doing that day?

You know whats on the back of the picture?

Nothing. 

I have no clue who she is. 

It's some of Billy's people. 

His Dad may know her name but he is an Engineer and a man and probably won't know anything more than a name. 

Its a mystery. 

So it leads me to rant about people that don't label pictures. 

I'm preaching to the choir here because apparently I'm no better at it.

For example a picture from college. 

Front side:

Backside:

Really? 

Ya think?

Obviously I'm at the beach!

Which beach? 

And moreover what was this picture saying?

What the picture didn't say is that Billy and I drove down from Auburn the first Spring that we were in love in my beautiful sports car with tee tops and that we blew off class on Monday to stay an extra day or that 14 years later we would still talk about this trip as the best beach trip ever. 

How about this one from high school:

Front side:

Backside:

"Some Roman Ruin" 

Wow. 

My labeling skills were really impressive. 

Some Roman Ruin...unbelievable.

What the picture didn't convey is the taste of the gelato we had eaten earlier that day or how hot Rome is or the feeling you get when you stand at something that has stood for a thousand years. 

Sigh.

My mother in law is good at labeling pictures.

For example here is a picture of her and her mother:

It reads: "Flat top" - our first house in Oak Ridge - I was four."

Thats a good label because when I read it I get the sense of her being snug and secure at four in that tiny little house with her parents and her sister. 

Here is another:

In says "big tree was there from my childhood - across from the swimming pool"

This one is good too because I can see her in her little swim suit thinking about the tree and the big pool and her little dog she had to leave at home.

But this....

This is the best label I have found yet:

We saw this picture in my blog yesterday:

When I gently pulled it off the paper it was attached to here is what I found:

I suppose that is my Grandma's handwriting though I've never seen it. 

It reads: 

"Stella Lou Beasley

Oct 1950 - 21 months old

You should see her in these blue jeans. 

She is so sweet and we love her so much."

Now thats a label. 

Good job, Grandma.

I have a daughter that is close to 21 months now and to think of my Grandma loving my Mom like I love my little girl...

It's just too much!

And to think that someone probably loved her just as much and she probably had a daughter that she loved just as much. 

And now we don't even know her name. 

Sigh. 

Label your pictures people. 

And hug your mammas.