As I sit in a pile of old documents, photos, and notes—many from my mom to her “Grammy” and from her brother to her mom—my eyes catch the photo. I had heard from my Grammy of her times as a stewardess and from my mom after she passed of this photo as well as others. However, I myself had never seen it with my own eyes. It is interesting how familiar we can become with a time in which we were not alive, a story we were not part of, or photo we have never seen. It is also interesting to me that, within this box, time is condensed as pictures of three generations taken around the same ages sit together.

To be honest, this photo strayed very little from the image I had created in my head. It had not faded the way her other photos had, and it was printed from American Airlines negative no. 18442. I saw my Grammy with a glint in her eyes and an ear to ear smile, standing next to him. You would think my eyes would fixate on him, at the time an actor but later a governor and then the president, but he seemed secondary to her. It’s funny that she lacks the look of excited disbelief typically displayed on people when photographed with a famous figure. Instead she just looks happy to be flying and working such a unique job for its time.

I don’t know if I would have loved being an American Airlines Stewardess the way she had. She was critiqued every flight for specific details of appearance and personal characteristics such as hairstyle, nails, smile, posture, etc. She was rated rather than appreciated for her beautiful smile and friendly attitude. The first remark made in her observation report from Flight 286 was, “Shirley – Your appearance is very attractive.” The second was, “Your passenger contacts are made in a very friendly manner with a lovely, spontaneous smile which you use to good advantage.” Sure, these are positive remarks, but it still feels like she is being ridiculed. Maybe I feel this way because the positive remarks paragraph is much shorter than the recommendations, or maybe it is because the categories she was graded on are quite sexist and arbitrary to her proficiency in her job. I know that she loved being a stewardess and that the way she was being scrutinized by others didn’t faze her. At the time, being a stewardess was pretty special and the people who were able to fly anywhere had the prestige and wealth that the man in the photo did. She served many famous figures and her charm was felt by all passengers.

Instead of making me miss her or wish I had time to ask her more about the photograph, I am content learning from the documents she has left and leaving the rest up to my imagination. I know that, through this box, I can learn things my Grammy would have never told me. Her grades listed in report cards from every quarter of high school, a photo of her dancing with an old boyfriend, a death certificate for her son who died unexpectedly at age 22, pictures of her in a “Career Girl Fashion Show.” A woman who I had always known as elderly, sweet, and smelling of cookies I could now see as a playful little girl, an adventurous teenager, or a working young adult.

*As you can probably tell, the picture shown is not the one I finally found and described above. I chose to include a picture of just her in her stewardess days because she always talked about how it was special to be able to fly with her passengers no matter who they were. Thus, I have chosen to leave the man with her in the photograph anonymous to stand as a placeholder for all of the passengers she attended.

During my childhood, my family moved houses around the second grade. We remained at that home, what I consider my childhood home, for ten or eleven years. Most recently, during my college experience, we moved houses again to find ourselves at our current home. I bring this up because I remember we had designated spaces on bookshelves for our hefty photo albums and family letters. From the two times I remember helping pack up our belongings, the collections of photo albums were some of the first to be moved with the furniture.

Over the years, I have enjoyed looking through these albums learning about the different family members and the stories my mom has shared with my siblings and I. I am impressed with the consistency my parents photographed the early years of their marriage, important events in their lives and family gatherings. As I am the last of four, I struggled to find the photographs in which I finally appeared, but once we found them, I am glad they had plenty of film.

I chose this photograph because it captures the essence of two family members: my great grandma who has me on her lap, and one of my older sisters. I love this photo because I am reminded of the immense love both had/have for me. My great grandma passed away when I was twelve. I remember the day before she passed, she was still showering me with multiple forehead kisses and wanting to hold my hand. When she would visit the US from Mexico, she would alternate weeks staying with my aunt’s, but stayed the longest with my family. I cherish the memories I remember with her. When my mom would say no candy, my grandma would sneak us both a small piece of a sweet or hard candy. Vivid moments like these are priceless for me.

This is also one of my favorite photographs because my sister Elizabeth is attached to both my grandma and I. My birthday is coming up next week and I probably would not have touched these albums before then. This assignment is timely, these photos are an “in” to when my dad was able to capture my first few days at home with family. Elizabeth and I have a very special bond, although we are not twins like our older sisters, in a sense we are. In almost all of the photos captured after my birth, she is in most hovering around me and smiling. My mom reminded me that all of my sisters were so excited.

Since my grandma’s passing, I started to think more about something my mom shared years ago that became more special to me while at Bowdoin. As I walked home to my dorm room during cold winters nights, I could pinpoint the big dipper in an enormous collection of stars. I started to associate these, even if they were not the same… with different people or the presence of someone in my family. I found comfort in these moments, thinking of those people – and as I rediscover these photographs, I continue to find and appreciate the love of family I am so lucky to have.

I had no idea how to start this project. My parents just moved to South Carolina and we barely have anything personal in the house. I can picture all the photo albums we have, sitting in cardboard boxes in a basement, 877 miles away in Millbrook, New York. Since going through physical photos wasn’t an option, I turned to technology.

I began with the Photos album on my laptop. Conveniently for this project, Apple’s Photos assembles albums based on each person using facial recognition. It was great to look through all my old photos of my family members, but I was still stumped. So, I texted my sister asking what she was doing. Luckily, she agreed to help. She pulled up our mom’s Facebook page. You have to understand about our mom – everything goes on Facebook and she is quite fond of flashbacks. “TBT” While we found some great pictures of our grandparent’s in 80s clothing, I still didn’t find the one. Then I realized I had already seen it. It, was my sister’s contact photo of our dad. Another great retro 80s look, but much cooler.

I can only imagine my dad out skiing with his friends and they are just waiting for a chairlift or another friend and my dad pops up on his skis for a second. His friends see this cool stunt and say to my dad, “Doug, you gotta do that again so I can take a photo.” This is one of my favorite photos of my dad because it is both such a cool photo and represents his character.