Dear Photograph,

I’m so proud my boys childhood dreams were made of bravery, honor and valor. Fifteen years later, dreams really do come true.

Nancy

Dear Photograph,

This is me in the far 1962. I was in Piazza dei Signori (Lord’s Square) in Verona, Italy. I was giving corn seeds to the pigeons. Now it’s forbidden…

Annalisa

Dear Photograph,

Trafalgar Square 50 years ago and my Granny never looked happier! If my house was burning down, this would be the one possession I would be desperate to save. I miss so many things about my Granny but most of all I miss her beautiful smile.

Clare

Dear Photograph,

My parents were married in the living room of my grandparents house in Albany, NY, on April 7, 1932. The wedding photos were taken on the front lawn, and include a portion of the house next door. After having been in the family for 100 years, I sold that home yesterday, just a couple of weeks shy of the 80th anniversary of their wedding. Since both of my parents are gone, I wanted to involve them in some way for a few last reflections around the property before headed to the closing.

Bob

Dear Photograph,

This family doesn’t live in this house anymore – the daughters are all grown up and the parents have moved in retirement. The walls hold many secrets – giggles, laughter, tears, and love. I will always drive by this house randomly from time to time because the memories pull at my heart.

Amy

Dear Photograph,

I love how over time, certain places have become “ours” and when we go back there, it’s like re-reading my favorite passage from my favorite book.

Love, Jen

Dear Photograph,

A friend snapped this picture of us nearly ten years ago, when we were just a couple of kids. We were only friends, but I had a secret crush on him and he had a secret crush on me. When he finally kissed me later that year, I told him “I wish I could keep you” and he said, “I wish you would.” And I did. We came back to this spot on the eve of our seventh wedding anniversary.

Love, Jen

Dear Photograph,

On October 11th of this year, my grandparents would have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. This photo is of my grandma getting into the car as my grandpa waits beside it. It was taken outside of the church in Shorewood, Wisconsin right after the ceremony.

Molly

Dear Photograph,

I wish I had the courage to be the girl I was when I was five. The world twists you up, grinds you down, and makes you behave. Life was simpler then and I thought I was fabulous. I miss her.

-C

Dear Photograph,

I burned you once. I’m sorry for that. You take me back to a time where I thought the road we traveled would always be the one we traveled together. Now our roads have led us to different places and I’m no longer holding his comforting hands. We may not have discovered everlasting love along this pathway but I know that time will catch up to us and that our roads will cross again…it’ll only be a matter of time.

Love Always and Forever,

Chas

Dear Photograph,

Seasons come and seasons go, but my heart still fills with joy remembering the boy in the frog shirt and the girl in the purple straw hat fishing for days on end not caring if they caught anything.

Bridget

Dear Photograph,

Thanks for bringing him back for a minute.

Kj

Dear Photograph,

It was 70 years ago when my mother dipped her toes in Lake Cavloc, Switzerland along side her father and sister. Beauty was all around them and so were the echoes of youth. My mother’s view has changed now that she lives in a nursing home. Wouldn’t it have been something if the waters they had danced in had washed the fountain of youth over them…

Peter

Dear Photograph,

Every single day that she was in my life, I felt like the luckiest person alive. I trembled as I held this photo because I would give my whole world to be able to just walk right up and kiss that smiling face. I never took for granted the wonderful privilege of being the one who got to do so, nor wavered in the tingling of happiness it gave me. Without her, I will never be the same again.

Joshua

Dear Photograph,

Time is a funny thing. Although I don’t feel the years passing, I cannot refute the evidence. Visiting the church where it all began we now have 17 years behind us and three babies with us, each becoming their own independent beings. I wonder what the next Dear Photograph shot will hold for our family. Thanks for helping me to remember the memories,

Lisa

Dear Photograph,

My dog Suki, 1 year and 9 months later.

Rita

Dear Photograph,

My old Bernese mountain dog died a few years ago, but with the young one, I always take the walk we used to do together and it’s like he was there waiting for us.

A friendly hello from Normandy, France

Dear Photograph,

Thirty years ago, I held on tight to my Dad’s strong back and swam around and around with him in our horse trough pool.  Time has passed so quickly and as I stand here and watch my own kids swimming in the same pool. I wish I could stop time altogether, then my Dad won’t be sick and my kids won’t grow older. It’s all bittersweet, and the overwhelming feeling of such great love takes hold of me…and just like that, there I am back in the swirling water with my Dad…happy and safe and small.

Alisha

Dear Photograph, My father can’t hold me anymore. Now I hold my son, and he has his grandfather’s name. Daddy, I hope there’s sea, wherever you are….Happy Father’s Day. Love Always, Marta

Dear Photograph, In 1979, six years before I was born, my grandparents went on a holiday with their friends in London, England. Thirty four years later, I moved to London and now live fifteen minutes from where this photo was taken. At first, I had no idea what my grandad was looking at until we went to take this photograph and then I realized he was looking directly at the Tower Bridge. Garth

Dear Photograph, My mother was 22 and studying at George Washington University in 1972 when she posed for the camera outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC. Who would’ve known that forty years later, when I was 22, I would be a White House intern working in that very same building? As I look at this photo it feels a bit like time travel…It’s an odd feeling to be in a photograph with your mother when you’re both the same age. Arthur

Dear Photograph, At the time it was not common for a man to walk behind a pram. I’m still proud of my father. Eva Willemier Westra

Dear Photograph, It’s been 50 years since I wore that snowsuit, and so much has changed. Yet in many ways, it feels like so little has…just the way it should be. Billy