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Photographs

Recently, I was bored and decided to look at pictures in the many photo albums that my family has. This sounds weird but I saw some photo albums for the first time. These photo albums were photo albums before I was alive as they included pictures of my parents before they married and other pictures before they knew each other. Previously, I considered these photo albums an afterthought because I wasn't in any of the pictures. After looking at these photo albums featuring my dad and mom, however, I realized that they are important for me.

As I looked through many happy pictures of my parents traveling to various places, I focused on what I saw. Instead of being reminded of some intense arguments my parents had in the past, I forgot about it. Even if I have no recollections of my parents' past lives, I find it valuable to look at these photo albums because they serve as a kind reminder that there were indeed times when my parents were happy. It is easy for someone like me who tends to exaggerate the negative aspects of my parent's relationship and ignore the good times.

Not only that, the photo albums forced me to look at my parents from a different perspective that is observant and objective. As paradoxical as that may sound, I didn't let my current emotions cloud how I looked at my parents when I saw the pictures. Instead of occasionally feeling angry with my dad and thinking negative thoughts of him, I unconsciously let it go. From seeing pictures of my dad traveling to Europe for the first time to experiencing his first real winter in New Jersey, I viewed him under a positive light. I saw him as an explorer who had many "firsts" in that brief period of time.

These pictures made me a lot more curious to know about my parent's past that they often don't mention to me. Although my parent's lives are no way the same as the life of a fictional character, I still found it interesting to know more about their past friends and colleagues that they rarely mention today. When I kept pestering my mom by asking her who were these random people in the pictures, I was surprised that in one of the pictures, the woman sitting next to my dad was his godmother. Although I heard that my dad lived with his godparents for a short period of time, seeing what they looked like for the first time served as the puzzle piece that completed the puzzle.

Although it was good to see the pleasant memories that my parents had more than 20 years ago, it was kind of sad to see how much older their friends changed from age. I was shocked that one of my mom's friend in college looked so different from her current self. The huge contrast reminded me that if I don't value my physical health now, I will probably end up like my mom's friend and her classmates when I am 40 or 50.

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