Utter frustration!

[mrs.tenacious]

Only Rootschatters will know how I feel tonight......

Spent the afternoon at a family gathering to celebrate my parents' Diamond Wedding Anniversary - the first time all of us had got together in one place since their 50th 10 years ago.  A truly lovely afternoon, and a fantastic family photo to boot. 

Anyway, 10 minutes before we had to leave, and acknowledging my role as the "family historian", my Mum mentions THE OLD PHOTOS BOX UPSTAIRS.

So off I run, find it, have the opportunity to "skim" through the top of stuff I have NEVER seen before.  Grabbed a totally stunning photo of my grandfather aged about 18, the full wedding photo of my paternal grandparents (previously had the first, torn headshot), and also my maternal grandparents.

I caught a very quick glimpse of the rest of the "treasure".  I don't think I will be able to get back down to my parents for about a month.

And that box will be sitting there, just quietly waiting for me. 

Aaargh!!!!

Mrs. T.

[genjen]

Oh but the joy of anticipation!

Just think what you have to look forward to the next time you visit. Just make sure you go equipped with notebook, pen, scanner...swag bag

Lucky you. I hope you really enjoy it.

Jen

[mrs.tenacious]

Oh but the joy of anticipation!
 Just make sure you go equipped with notebook, pen, scanner...swag bag

At the moment, Jen, the joy of anticipation is being offset by the chewing of the fingernails  , but thank you for that, I will enjoy.

Mum & Dad don't have a computer, and I don't have a laptop, so it will mean a long but enjoyable day with a pencil and reams of paper!

Mrs. T.

[aghadowey]

You must have more patience than me- I would have asked to borrow the box so I could scan the photos 

[genjen]

And I'd have picked it up and run.....

[mrs.tenacious]

Don't think for one minute that I wasn't tempted..........................

But my Dad was saying things like "Oh, I've been looking for that/those for a while" , and my Mum was saying "I really need to sort these out properly"

At least they agreed to look through them and annotate where annotations were missing, and agreed it would be lovely for me to spend the day sorting through them.

The wonderful photo of my grandfather: "can I take this for scanning, Dad?"
"Of course, as long as I get it back - although I don't think I'll need to hang on to it for much longer" -  it's been in that box for at least 20 years, and my Dad is 83. 

Bless 'em.

Mrs T.

[candleflame]

I hope your parents are sensible and that you stressed to your parents how they mustn't 'do' anything with the box - or any other box until you have seen it, documented it, photographed it etc. My dad is 89 -  still alive and my mum was the hoarder - thank you mum!! After she died, in 2004 he 'helpfully' threw out things that I knew were there that mum had kept - I wasn't allowed to take them when she was alive. Dad didn't see the point of them so lots of history, not just of ours but of some church history went out AAARRRGGGHHH. Now that Dad is a tad confused, I have brought things away to our house and only take them back either when he asks for them or they come up in conversation. I also scanned his old RAF photos before I took them back just in case he looked at them then binned them! I know we'll be old one day but we genealogists know what treasure there is in them there cupboards  

[genjen]

What you have to do is talk and talk and talk, whilst they can still remember. I have just written to my aunt in Australia, who is the only surviving member of my dad's generation. Only she can answer some of the tricky questions which, had I only bothered to take note, were actually answered by my nan a very long time ago!

My partner's mum is almost ninety and must have so many answers stored up in her mind but sadly, she can no longer get at that bit of her memory.

[Viktoria]

I remember at the funeral of my Auntie, aged 90, the youngest surviving child of twelve, her daughter brought out a box of old photographs.We eagerly swooped and several were borrowed.
I suggested that we make a list of who had what so if for example I had a photo I could copy it for whoever wanted copies and vice-versa. What I really thought may happen did, ie some were never returned to my cousin including Auntie`s wedding photo.Had we listed them there would have been  some chance at least they would have been returned .It is heartbreaking.
Most of our family photos on Dad`s side were lost in the blitz too.
I envy you and know you will treasure them and keep them safe for generations to come.Viktoria.