A Thing For Old Photographs

I have a thing for old photographs. This one is of my grandfather, James Sparrow (he's the handsome side-eye glancer on the bottom right-hand corner there) and his siblings. Top Left: Eugene Sparrow. Top Right: Lawrence Sparrow. Bottom Left: Clydine Sparrow-Waller. Middle: Martha Sparrow (she died in a house fire when she was 23, if I remember the age correctly). I don't know much about Martha. Grandpa never mentioned her even once. Grandma only ever mentioned her 2 or 3 times.

Nick has a pretty new interest and hobby in family history, so I thought he'd find pictures like this really interesting. My Aunt Debbie seems to be in possession of most of the old photographs that my grandparents had. She let me look through them with her while my family and I were in Illinois 3 weeks ago. It was fun walking down memory lane, or hearing stories I hadn't yet heard, or just wondering together over the pictures we didn't recognize or have any stories about which to tell. Aunt Deb said I could take whatever pictures I wanted. Some seemed too precious, or like I shouldn't have them as long as my mother and aunt and uncles are living. If they were VERY interesting to me (like this one) I snapped a picture with my iPhone.

I don't know anything about my grandpa as a boy. Nothing. He never talked about any of that. He wasn't a storyteller, and I don't think he had any appreciation for storytelling or history sharing. He was a good man. Stern, but loving. I sure miss him. He died 2 years ago this October. Grandma Bertie has been gone more than 11 years, and I still miss her nearly every single day. She WAS a storyteller! I loved listening to Grandma, and what little I know of Grandpa and his family, she probably shared it with me. Looking back at pictures like this I can sometimes hear her voice telling me this or that. In this one, I hear her telling me the story of Grandpa asking her for a date, and how she almost blew it because she was trying not to appear too eager. Grandpa didn't have a lot of patience, and being a practical fellow he would have moved right along had he thought she was trying to play hard-to-get or simply wasn't interested in him. I'm so glad they went on that date, so that I can look at pictures and think of stories like this when I feel lonesome for them.