Old Pictures

Just a thought about old pictures. I’ve been reading Martha Grimes novel, The Blue Last. A recurring theme is Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury encountering old pictures—some related to himself and others related to a possible crime. These pictures have jury asking questions of himself regarding his own childhood memories and becoming puzzled about his memories.

Jury’s bewilderment has led to my own questioning of memories that old pictures and the accuracy of my own memories. For example, there is an old photo of me when I was probably about five years old. I’m standing in my uncle’s backyard and I am crying. What I have always been told about that photo is that I am crying because in did not want the chicks—baby chickens, not female humans—that are in the background of that picture in the photo with me.

The problem is: I have no memory of chicks or chickens ever being in my uncle’s yard. Regarding that photo, I am as perplexed a Richard Jury!