I received a gift in the mail the other day. A 2024 Collector’s calendar: Norway, Visions and Verse of Vikingland…41st edition.
And the reason I was given this calendar is because one of the photos I took while visiting Norway last summer was chosen to be in the calendar.
It was fun looking through each month to see all the lovely pictures of this amazingly beautiful country, and finding one of my own, taken on the Island of Stord.
It was fun to see my name in the credits too.
Who me? How fun.
I’ve posted some short essays from my writing sessions before. I’m amazed where writing prompts lead, and I’m often surprised. For this assignment, the question was: “What object in your home have you been surprised to love more and more over the years?”
It took a little while before something shimmered to the top for me. And then it did. It is a photo of my two boys running through a farm field when they were younger. I had to look up date the photo was taken. It was 1988, and the boys would have been 6 and 4. I framed this photo back then, and have had it hanging in my house since. A few years ago, I went up to St. Olaf’s print center and had another color copy (8”x10”) made of the original because the first picture I had in the frame started to fade over the years.
I have the photo hanging in a hallway and I see it often. To me it represents some of the best years of my life, when my two wonderful young sons were little boys, healthy and happy, and growing and loving. I’m nostalgic for those times, those hugs, those gone-by-too-fast days when we were all together. I’m so thankful for the memories we made together as a family, and for photos I have of those times.
This picture was taken on the family farm in Pennsylvania. The boys are full of energy, runny and healthy, carefree, and so happy together. I think that best describes their childhood.
The photo is precious and makes me smile, time after time, and has become a treasured belonging in my home.
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. Psalm 133:1 (NASB)