Are Pictures Worth a Thousand Words?

Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but are they the right words? How about this picture of an old man with a mountain lion? I've seen this picture a few times in my life. I know it's a relative of mine, but I don't know who he is or why he's with a mountain lion. There has to be a story here, right?

This one is a little better because it does say that he is Grandpa Lamb in 1919. But who is Grandpa Lamb? The handwriting looks like my Grandma Larson's so I assume it's her Grandpa Lamb? I did a little digging on the website FamilySearch.com and found out that he used to trap wild animals and sell their hides. There is mention of him catching a mountain lion and then posing for a photo with it. That's all I could find. There has to be more to this story!

Last week I talked about the anniversary celebration we had with our kids where we shared some of our family stories. It reminded me that we need to write these stories down now. While we still remember them! And we need to tell these stories to our kids and grandkids!

Sadly both of my husband's parents are gone. His dad died when he was 19 and serving a mission in our church in Chile. So, only his children and 2 of his daughters-in-law knew him. I never met him and none of his grandkids met him. And sadly, he was one of only 2 children and his sister is also gone. We have some great pictures of him as a young man, but we don't know anything about those pictures. My husband's mother died in 2005. I knew her well. But for some reason I never asked her about how she and her husband met, when or how they got engaged. Nothing! And there is no one left who would know those stories. It's so sad!

So, let's make sure that doesn't happen to us and our families! We need to tell stories and write them down! Because we all have a camera in our phones, many of us take lots and lots of photos. But is that enough? Someday our posterity will end up with lots of photos but have no idea what the stories behind those photos are.

I know we all recognize that it's important. It's actually doing it that is the hard part. I myself haven't figured out the best way to do it. But it is one of the reasons for this blog. I'm hoping to help all of us stay connected to our kids and grandkids. So, if anyone has suggestions on how to tackle the project of recording our stories and well as our photos, please share!