Friday, July 05, 2013

Old Photographs

Jilda's mom and dad wasn't sure about me. I was from the "other side of the highway" and I'm not sure they trusted someone with long sideburns.
Somehow she talked her parents into letting her ride with her friends Dale and Debbi, to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The only catch was we had to be back home by bedtime.
That was long before sleep-overs were permitted without a marriage license. 
It was the Friday after Thanksgiving 1969, and Gatlinburg was a 5 hour drive so we headed north at daybreak. It was cool in Alabama, so we took warm clothes.
On the trip up we all listened to music, talked about our hopes and dreams and offered solutions to most of the world's problems.
Dale was driving a 1968 Ford Maverick and it was cozy in the back seat. 
The air got thinner as we climbed higher into the Smokie Mountains. We saw so many deer and wild turkey that we stopped counting. We saw a black bear and pulled over to the side of the road to watch him at a distance.
Just after noon, we noticed tiny particles of ice ticking on the windshield. Soon a light snow began to fall.
We pulled over at a wide place in the road for a photo op, and to eat a picnic sandwich.  Dale, who later taught me about photography, shot this picture of Jilda and me. It's one of the first, if not the first picture that was ever taken of us. 
That was on November 28, 1969.  In this photograph we both looked as if we could see into the future. I'm not sure we saw all the twists and turns that we'd go through, but I think we saw that most of the journey would be smooth sailing.
As I said before, I love looking through old photographs.

15 comments:

  1. A photo treasure with your post today.
    Joy

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  2. What fantastic photo. Looking through old pictures is a lot of fun.

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  3. Kindred spirits caught in time! Love the pic! I have one of me and Jack that my Aunt snapped about 5min. after we met..on a blind date no less...again, spirits trapped in time! Ha!

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  4. I love old pictures!

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  5. I love stories about couples who began young and stayed together
    This makes for nice stories So much to remember

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  6. I love that picture, Rick. Look how cute you guys were. It seems like yesterday sometimes, doesn't it? xo Diana

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  7. I so enjoy your memory lane posts, lovely

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  8. My old photos are all in storage. Probably a good thing. Enjoyed today's post and the trip down memory lane. It will have me thinking today.....

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  9. I often look through old photos just to take a trip down memory lane ;-)

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  10. A special photo and a sweet story to go with it. It's a good memory to relive.

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  11. That's a great photo of the two of you. Great trip down memory Lane.
    JB

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  12. What a terrific photo! (Great story, too :)

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  13. Anonymous12:26 AM

    I love that photo--thanks for sharing!!

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  14. This pic just takes me back. Great memories.

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  15. What a beautiful step back into time. Love this...

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