Thanks for the memories?

 Ah, the memories! Wait, what? Photographs, of course, help us preserve some of what's happened. After nearly 40 years, however, things fade. Most of my memories of this time or any other, of course, are bound up with whatever photographs I have to revisit where I was, who I was with and what I was doing. The one shown here tells me that, at some point when the Germans visited, we had a dress up gathering. I dressed as a baby. Seeing this, I do recall that I dressed up as a baby. Where the party was, what happened there, and anything else from that night is long gone. Nor do I know who took the photo below.

One of the reasons it's fun to gather is that with 20 plus of us who experienced much of the same two month period is that we all recall different things. Plus, if we're lucky, we will have preserved different photographs. At some gathering, I think it was when we met for the 25th, someone handed me a photo that showed me at a pool party in Germany. It was of me leaping, arms and legs extended, into the pool. I didn't recall that party and I don't remember that anyone had a pool. I would think that would be a pretty good memory, since back then I was young, skinny and enjoyed being in pools with people I knew.

Mathias and I (perhaps at Pete Reinhardt's - that looks like his guitar)

I was one of those who took a lot of photos on our trip. Hell, I was just coming off my year as the assistant photo editor of the school newspaper. I also focused (what the hell, pun intended) on my photography at the time. I used my dad's all manual Pentax K1000. Those things were built like tanks and they were simple to use. Mr. Hanson, our journalism teacher, taught me well. Well, he taught me good enough to get started, and I have sustained that hobby, switching from film and slides to digital, for more than forty years and through several cameras.

I remember gathering after our trip to compare photos. A few of us brought photos along when we celebrated twenty-five years. I do hope I get another chance in the coming few years to see some photos that others have preserved. That's one possible way to open up a memory that has long been tucked away.