Time in a box

© Tim LaBarge 2008

In September, my folks brought me a box of slides and asked if I would scan them so digital copies exist. I waited, of course, until yesterday. With a little editing help from Leo (“That’s a funny one, papa”) I decided to get started.

The images that pop up on the screen are from family trips to Colorado during the 1970s. With a gang of my parents’ friends, we traversed the Rockies on old mining roads in International Harvester Scouts and Ford Broncos with ever-growing families. We spent nights camped at lakes, in meadows and along rivers. We spent days fishing, exploring mine ruins and hiking. The scenery makes me anxious to be somewhere other than sitting at the computer. But most striking is this peek into my parents’ life. It’s amazing to see them, younger than I am now, with three little kids. And to think that two more were still to come…

© Tim LaBarge 2008

There’s a picture of me walking with my dad along the shore of Heart Lake. I’m three. Jump forward 35 years. I don’t look all that different than my dad. And that little boy doesn’t look all that different than Leo.

© Tim LaBarge 2008

Parents with older children are always telling parents of young children that they grow up before you know it -snap- just like that. But as we work our way through the days with a one-year-old and an almost three-year-old, I don’t see it. In fact, sometimes I feel like life is in slow motion. And it’s wonderful.

Looking through these slices of time, I realize that things haven’t really changed much in 35 years. They’ve really only shifted slightly. And all the memories of time with my brothers and my parents on trips in the mountains…it all seems like it happened yesterday.

© Tim LaBarge 2008