This past Sunday was an exceptional day for me.  As a mother of a teenage daughter, it is rare for me to get truly “Me” time.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter and my husband, but it has been a while since I had “Me” time.  This past Sunday the planets aligned.  My daughter was with her father that weekend and my husband had to work.  The morning and afternoon were mine…..all mine!!!

                I decided to go to the local farmer’s market and to have some breakfast nearby.  My breakfast was delicious and I love knowing that the items I purchase at the farmer’s market went to local proprietors.  I purchase honey sticks for my tea from the “honey-man”; asparagus for dinner that night from one of the several vegetable stands, and I even bought ½ dozen of tamales from a food vendor for lunch at work the next day for me and my husband.

                As I was walking and looking at all of the booths, I came across one that saddened me.  This proprietor, the name of the business escapes me at the moment, sold comic books, actions figures and vintage books and toys.  As I moved through their stand, a big blue plastic bin in the back kept calling to me.  I went to see what was in it and to my dismay, it was filled with some not so old, and some really old photographs.  These photos were part of someone family history and it sadden me to see them here, all thrown together, unprotected.  I was shocked and dismayed at what I had seen.  I started to go through some of them and found a small handful that I believed I could, after some research, return to a family member one day.

                I purchased 8 photos and postcards and decided right then and there that I will try to accomplish the goal of finding the proper homes for them.  If I couldn’t, then I would just add them to my collection.   Most of them have names, the post cards have addresses, and there is one that is an official Navy photograph, with a stamp to that effect on the back of the photo.  I am a bit bummed that there was one picture I couldn’t purchase because I didn’t have enough money.  It cost $5 and I only had enough for the 8 that I had.  This photo was actually a page of photos.  You know those old photo albums that were black paper.  Most people glued the photos to the page in that era.  Well that is what this was.  It had several smaller photographs but from what I could tell, they were military from 1918!!  This page of photographs would have proved harder to find the family it belong too because there were no identifying names that I could work with.  I thought it was interesting though, interesting enough to go back this next Sunday to try to find it and purchase it.

                I will be posting about my efforts in finding the families that these photos belong to and will keep you updated on the progress.  If I do find the families, and if I can get their permission, I will post the photograph.  Even though I purchased these photos and they are in my collection, I don’t feel right posting the photos because it doesn’t belong to my family and I don’t want to violate anyone’s privacy rights.  So keep an eye out for my posting on these photos in the future.