Yesterday I spent most of the day on my overdue family photos, documents and
records project.
After going through my first hurricane, the
experience was significant motivation to get started. Hopefully a storm like
Irma won’t happen anytime soon. If I have to evacuate with my most cherished
possessions, the boxes won’t fit in the car.
When I moved to Jacksonville last year, I
packed 11 boxes of photos albums, documents, letters, recipe cards, newspaper
clippings, diplomas, etc. Wednesday I
moved them all to the kitchen table area and got started. Maddie and Morgan and
Alexa my wonderful companions.
Yesterday for 6 + hours I reviewed, sorted
cataloged and recycled. I made decisions on what is being saved, shared, what
will be converted to digital files. And yes it’s true that even in an already
curated collection of what was saved over the years, there were still many,
many photos of landscapes, churches, monuments. All those are now recycled.
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JoAnn de Arosemena |
What surprised me, how emotional the process
is; how a worn, yellowed recipe card or a piece of paper with my Mom’s
signature, how these simple objects can in seconds get the memory movie reels in
my head and heart going on overdrive. I cried, I laughed, I remembered, I
cherished. And thanks to WhatsApp I
texted photos of the photos to my siblings and niece and nephew.
Some photos I don’t remember. I found one dated July of 1958 where I’m in the photo, sort of. My Mom was a few months away from my October birth that year. And there she was in the photo pregnant and I was the baby yet to be born.
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Little Roger |
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JoAnn Catherine & Tia Elena |
Some photos I don’t remember. I found one dated July of 1958 where I’m in the photo, sort of. My Mom was a few months away from my October birth that year. And there she was in the photo pregnant and I was the baby yet to be born.
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My Dad & Ana, Fabio Arosemena(Great-Granfather) & Roger, My Mom July 1958, Panama City, Panama |
The Fritter Franks recipe card, I can’t begin to describe the visceral reaction that recipe card evokes when I see it. Fritter Franks for us as kids was such a treat. My Mom used to make a big mess frying them up, they were worth every minute spent cleaning the stove top afterwards. The Fritter Frank corn dogs are so good, if you don’t believe me try the recipe. It’s basic and it’s a classic.
I found my DAD’s application for employment
to join the medical staff at Barstow Hospital. That document 47 years old, not
sure why my DAD saved the application, I had never seen it before. I found a
letter dated July 2, 1951 from a professor, Charles L. Coolahan, from Georgetown
University, where my Dad completed his undergraduate studies. The letter is
addressed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, it is a letter of recommendation
for my DAD’s application to be a Fellow in Surgery at Mayo, One of the
paragraph reads:
"Rare, at least in my experience, is it to find a student who
combines hard work with a keen intelligence; but to possess both of these
qualities and a good, strong character and a pleasing affable personality, as
Dr. Arosemena does, is a mark of great distinction. Possessing an affable disposition,
one would expect to find one considerate of others, their desires, their
opinions, their tastes, and this is very true of Dr. Arosemena. He is a perfect
gentleman."
I’d never considered my Dad as a student, the
letter describes him in great detail, the professor had known him for 8 years.
The letter is 66 years old, the onion skin paper holding up well. It certainly
has yellowed it is now the tone of sepia. The font used, American Typewriter, the text single spaced. There are a handful of other letters, some
handwritten to my Dad by his Father, Rogelio and his Uncle, Justo Arosemena –
they are absolute treasures. I’m saving
these for sure.
The oldest photograph I found, 101 years
old. It is a portrait photograph of
Elida Arias Perez Arosemena. She was the mother of my Grandfather Rogelio, she
was married to Fabio Camilo Arosemena.
The
photo is inscribed with a dedication from Elida to her Mother and family, and
it is signed and dated, London, July 1916. Yes London, England. From recent
documents I've read, Elida died in Cannes, France, in May of 1918.
She was 49 years old.