Memories Re-Framed

I finally bought a frame for an 8 by 10 photo of my family. This photo was taken last fall at the Renaissance Festival. We used this photo for our Christmas card and I have it on my facebook front page. In the picture all four of us are smiling, happy and looking at the camera with our eyes open. These pictures are one in a million. I found the frame on an end cap in Target. It was a metallic dark Burgundy. It kind of looked like shiny wood. In my imagination it matched the wood trim that is so abundant in our house.

When we got home I put the photo in the frame the first chance that I had. The photo looked decent in it. Then, I started noticing; the photo didn't match any other frame in the house. In fact, not a single frame matched another frame in the house. All the eyes from all of the pictures gazed at me and said, "None of us are in matching frames."

This is how it works. Photos are taken at different times in our lives. In the time between those photo shoots trends and home fashions change. For example, sitting on the top of a corner shelf containing about eight or so framed family pictures, is my senior photograph. This photograph is complete with the big round glasses that were so prevalent in the late 90' The photo rests in a faux gold marble gilded frame. I'm sure I bought it off of the end cap at Target and that was in style at the time. Below it is a formal picture of Sylvia taken at age 2. This photo rests in a dark blue frame with wide border. Next to it is am 4 x 6 picture of my sisters, the kids, John and me. It is another one of those great pictures where everyone is smiling. This one rests in a metallic stamped frame. And on and on.

I look closer at the frames in my house. The lovely photo of John and me at a wedding sits in Metallic Silver frame(also off of the end cap at Target) I go into our bathroom and notice a post card that is framed. It's silver. However, instead of white matting there's stippled clear glass to provide a couple inches of space between the border of the photo and the border of the frame. Even two silver frames can be stylistically completely different.

This might seem like a trivial topic. But isn't it interesting how over time these frames are as eclectic as the memories contained in them. To further complicate things. When John and I married he brought with him pre-framed photos and I brought with me pre-framed photos. So there on the top shelf next to the faux gilded 5 X 7 senior picture is a wallet size carved wood frame with a picture of himself at one years old.

To dig even deeper. I have this habit of updating photos in a frame to reflect our current lives. For example we have a couple of very sturdy glass border less frames that sit up rite on a shelf. Every couple of years I replace the photos as new things happen in our lives. The picture of Sylvia's first birthday cake replaces me on a point in Grand Marais during our honeymoon. A picture of our wedding replaces a snapshot of us during our first camping date. The memory lives on, just a few layers in.

These frames show the passing of time and the shuffling of memories. Now that I have noticed this hodgepodge I have a choice: Do I embrace the variety of these frames, grabbing the newest thing off of the end cap at Target or, do I in an uncharacteristic moment of consumerism buy all new frames in matching finish?

Dear readers, now that I have raised the topic, I ask you to look around your living space and notice; What kind of frames are in your house?