layered

Last week I pulled out Zeus, my trusty Olympus Trip 35, and blew off about three years of dust. I was surprised to open it and find, what I thought was, a fresh roll of film inside. So I started shooting. I took pictures around the little, lovely apartment I've called home for years: pictures of the dining room, the living room, the husband studying in the work room. I took the camera with me to meet dear Katie and Cordelia for our third annual celebration of the equinox; this year we met at the Botanical Gardens. I shot through the roll and dropped it off to be developed. Ever impatient when film is involved, I had Kenneth pick it up later that evening. I was surprised again to discover that the roll of film was not fresh, rather it held scenes from a trip to Monterey, VA from Spring 2010 now overlapped with pictures from Spring 2014.

I was lucky in my photos both now and four years ago because the layers of images seem to compliment rather than ruin each other. I have been flipping through the photos since I received them and comparing. Look where we were four years ago. Look at the trips, the hair, the car you were driving. Remember that jacket? Remember that day? It has been a gift to have rediscovered these photos and the memories they hold. It is fun to have the then and now as a visual, layered and easy to compare. 

We were twenty then, young and in love. Together only a year or so and traveling with his family. Kenneth was much the same as he is now; maybe a little more stubborn and definitely a lot more carefree and wild. I was much different, most obviously on the outside: ombre unwashed hair, hipster glasses and track jacket. We were both so young looking with our baby fat cheeks. Only four years separate the then and now and oh boy, it feels like forever. How will I feel when I show these photos to our children in ten or twenty years? Will it seem like another lifetime? 

Now we are half a decade into our forever together. Older and in love. Married and not yet settled, still dreaming and planning for the life we want to live. In the original photos we are just starting out on our path together, in the new ones we are a little further down the path. While it is fun to look back and see where we started, it is even better to celebrate where we are and to look forward to where we are headed. This is the journey of a lifetime and oh boy, it is a good one.