Through the Years...

[peacetraveler22]

Last night I started going through old photos. Since childhood, my father has had a camera in our faces, snapping shots at the most unexpected times, and sometimes in the most unflattering of angles. I found it annoying in youth, but today appreciate the boxes of images which always carry me down memory lane. Each time I look at them, I grow sentimental and nostalgic. In general, I've been blessed with a beautiful life, encountering few obstacles or traumas. A huge, supportive family carrying me through the ups and downs.

I don't think I've changed much over the years, looks or personality wise. The only thing that fluctuates in the images is my weight. This is a constant battle! Even as a youngster, I was curious. Talking and quizzing people to learn more about them and their lives. Do you have such old photos? What has changed most about your personality or looks over the years?

1. In the beginning...



2. My parents still have this blue, ruffly dress. My dad purchased it for me as a surprise gift.



3. My sister, me and our closest cousins - Tim and Jennifer. We were all around the same age and grew up together. Here we're playing a popular card game called "UNO" during a family celebration. Do you know it?



4. Yes, I've always been stylish! Rockin the reindeer sweater. :) This photo impacted me most. Yesterday was my aunt Guyetta's birthday. She's pictured there in the chair. The first of my mom's siblings to pass away a few years ago. She operated a hair salon, right inside her house for over forty years. If you look at the image above, we're sitting in the salon. Notice the sit-in hairdryer above my head? Remarkable woman, greatly missed.



5. My dad, grandfather and me on the family boat. Dad probably fixing something, as usual. My curls were out of control, even at an early age.



6. Me and cousin Tim in my parent's yard. Same house they live in now.



7. High school, senior year.



8. Prom! The guy in the front was one of my best friends. He later revealed to us that he's gay. He hid it growing up because we all went to a strict, conservative religious school. Looking back, his sexual orientation was always obvious to me. Not sure why he hid it, especially from people like me who would be accepting.



9. My roommate during university.



10. Studying for exams. Everyone always teased me about my curly, wild hair.



11. Hiking in the woods with my sister and our black lab - Ralph. He disappeared one day, never to be found. This was right  before I started working with United Airlines - my first job after university.



12. Fattest days...



13. Me now. :) Gray hair starting to creep in, all in a centralized location on the top of my head. Horror! What to do?



14. Sexpot look!



15. And the people who brought me into this world. High school sweethearts, still happily married.



Sometimes it's nice to walk down memory lane...

Comments

[south-of-broad.livejournal.com]

UNO-forever))) We are still playing but now with our children. And we play to the first blood, the youngest one is the biggest cheat in the family))
Oh, the dresses) I think i had one similar to yours)
Love your hair!

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I have photos of the most horrible flowery bridesmaids dresses also, but I didn't include them. :) I didn't think families still played actual card games. Seems kids now adays would be bored with the activity because it doesn't involve an iPad or some electronic device glued to their hands. So, this is encouraging news. My six year old nephew hates to lose any game, and has been known to cheat rather than accept defeat. Yeah, curly hair isn't so bad. Adds to my personality. :)

[girlspell.livejournal.com]

Aw....these are nice photos. What was your job with the airline? Were you a flight attendant? That mention of a gay friend in school. There was one in my class. He too kept it hidden, but he killed himself. Very sad.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

What a tragic story about the suicide. :( I worked in a reservations center back in the day, before everyone made reservations online. So, when you dialed the "1-800" number, I was one of the people who assisted you. It was a really awful and annoying job, but it gave me the opportunity to travel.

[pro100-petrov.livejournal.com]

Nice photos.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[e-g-o-r-i-u-s.livejournal.com]

Oh, such a nice story, Shannon! Interesting pictures.

You haven't changed since your student years. Mm, no, you've changed - you became more attractive :)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

A woman will always accept flattery! Thanks. :)

[mujlan01.livejournal.com]

Nice pictures and nice curly hair:)) it's interesting I just realize that all of my childish foto are kept by my mom..I've nothing to share with my kids due to grandma's policy:))

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I think most men prefer straight hair, but I'm too lazy and impatient to spend an hour each morning to straighten mine. And, I like it curly. You must dig out the old photos from grandma's house! Your kids will enjoy them, trust me. Always funny to see our parents in their early years.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Sometimes women get better with age. :)

[notabler.livejournal.com]

Just fantastic pictures! You were so lovely as a child. How did you manage to lose so much weight? I am in terrible stage now since I retired and my life became 100% sedentary. You look so happy on every photo. I wish you stay so happy for many many years ahead

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Really, the only way for me to lose weight is to be extremely disciplined and suffer by eating boring foods. :) Sometimes I'm better at it than others, that's why my weight is always going up and down. I lost 80 lbs once during university. I don't have good metabolic genes, and very few people in my large family are thin. I hate those people who can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound!! Basically, I eat a very low fat diet - lots of chicken, pasta and vegetables, combined with exercise. However, at times, you just want to enjoy life and eat delicious things, but I always pay the price with weight gain. I have a sweet tooth, and will eat fat free/sugar free pudding or jello as dessert, or sometimes frozen fruit bars.

The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to lose weight and sitting behind a desk all day doesn't help. When I'm traveling, I'm usually walking all day so it's not such a problem then. Good luck! I understand the struggle.

[botkh.livejournal.com]

The photo #4 looks like a photo made in Soviet Union. I recalled my old pics. Thanks

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I love old Soviet photos!

[rollson.livejournal.com]

Ha Ha!

great set!!
my favorite one is #10

btw is that guy still available? ))

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

You are gay? He's still available, but lives in North Carolina. You want to come to the East Coast? :)) Also, he looks almost exactly the same. Very nice guy.

[general-denikin.livejournal.com]

Lovely pictures and author's comments. Reminded me the paintings of children by Norman Rickwell.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Rockwell has great paintings of ordinary American families and children. I always liked them!

[onkel-hans.livejournal.com]

You didn't change that much since the #1!
And I like that build of body!

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

What build of body? A non-skinny woman?

[rider3099.livejournal.com]

I love an old photos but have not here. All of them are at my dad’s house in Kiev.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

My parents have most of the old photos at their house also, but I have gathered a few for myself in recent years. :) Next time you visit Kyiv, try to grab some from your dad. It's nice to look at the photos and remember the good times when you're going through rough patches in life.

[mybathroom.livejournal.com]

Nice photos, nice memories!
Recently I've digitized all my family photos and films, because time is ruthless for plastic and paper.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Smart move! A lot of our old photos have water sports and other marks. We also have old 8mm films of our family, with a big screen projector that still works! Sometimes in summer, we will pull it out and have a viewing party in my parent's yard.

[amandakysses.livejournal.com]

Woman, this is so great! I cant stop smiling looking at these pics. I love how every single one of you look EXACTLY the same. Nobody has aged a bit.. Cant wait to kiss your sister. Hope I get to see you too! Thanks for sharing this sweet post! Loves! xoxo

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Well, not exactly the same but close. :) I think my family has good aging genes, even my mom still looks young. With dad, not so much because of all his gray hair, which I'm now inheriting!

Ловкий ход

[andrey-kaminsky.livejournal.com]

You caught me by surprise. I have a lot of SU-stylized images, but they have not been digitized. Soviet pictures, for some reason, are very optimistic. Childhood is always optimistic. In the nineties i was smoking cigarettes, listening to the Nirvana band, life seemed pointless and i did not appreciate live. I have spent my life as if I have a thousand years left

Re: Ловкий ход

[qi-tronic.livejournal.com]

"
Soviet pictures, for some reason, are very optimistic.
"
Because we believed that we were building a better future.

Now we are back into the past, mentally.
The same capitalism as it was for centuries.
Technical progress but social stagnation.

[sineglazzka2301.livejournal.com]

A very positive and touching post! Made me eager to get through my own photos as a kid, which were pitifully few. To my great shame, I haven't got any photos where I am from 11 to 14, to show to my daughters:(
As for changing - you are surely a type that gets better with age. In comparison with your prom photo - everything that was after is definitely better:)) I wonder if anyone have ever looked well on a prom photo? №14 is really sweet:)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it! There are a lot more photos of me than my younger sister, and she always teases my parents about this. Maybe everything is not as exciting with the second child, although you certainly love him/her as equally as the first. In the moment, we all think we look great in prom photos. Only after reflecting on the images years later do we realize how much styles change! It really drives me insane to see all of the posts written by female bloggers on LJ which imply older women can't be beautiful or desirable. We're not all so bad and, usually, much wiser and more experienced than the young ladies. There's some value in that for sure. :)

[fesma94.livejournal.com]

Thanks for photos and story ! Very interesting ! In family photo archives we have most b/w photo .

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I love black and whites, but we don't have many of my family.

[nochnaya-ximera.livejournal.com]

Nice photos, Shannon!

How did you managed to lose your weight? Have you kept a diet? Or a lot of exercises?
Now you look great!! :)

Regarding grey hair - the answer is very simple - hair colour ;)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I think it's time to highlight my hair to cover the gray! Losing weight takes so much discipline and torture because I really love food and am surrounded by it all the time at family gatherings. Basically, I eat low fat diet, vegetables, pasta, chicken, and try to wake-up early in the morning to walk on treadmill. But, I still could lose at least 20 lbs. Btw, one of my friends recently moved to Uzbekistan on assignment for the State Department. Maybe I can visit her this year. Are you still in Tashkent?

[whiteeye.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pictures. Really nice to see you at different age. I think now you look better than when you were younger;) I have my children pictures too and think i look more a leß the same:) Maybe some day will post these pictures at Facebook;)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Yes! Post on Facebook. I like looking at baby and younger photos to see how people change, or remain the same. :)

[anna-sollanna.livejournal.com]

You look wonderful! Have I told you that I adore your curly hair?
The very first photo - was it made in a kind of yacht? And on the first photo you look like a little angel!
And I liked very much the blue dress you wore on your prom! (You look so distinguished among other girls in their pink dresses :))) Do you have more its photos, it would be delightful to have a look at its details. (Btw I am fond of blue color, and my wedding dress was of a deep blue one!)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) Yacht, no! It's my family's ski boat. We grew up on the lake fishing, skiing and camping on a lot of weekends. The dress in first photo was my christening dress, made by my godmother. My parents still have that one too. What can I say? We're a sentimental family, deeply tied to tradition. :) I have so many old photos, some day I'll share more of them.

[skvorets1989.livejournal.com]

At your religious schools girls and boys study together?

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Yes, co-ed classes. However, the school would not allow a prom so we arranged it on our own. In their view, dancing was sinful because it could lead to sexual activities. :))

[qi-tronic.livejournal.com]

www. youtube. com/watch?v=7i3pqJ2jqLo

and no more words...

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I saw this band in concert when I was younger.

[draft3365.livejournal.com]

Self-made woman!

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Да! :)

[j1980.livejournal.com]

Индейцы были в роду?

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Да, мой дедушка был наполовину чероки.

[real-marsel.livejournal.com]

You absolutely did not change from your first look.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I take this as a compliment! :)