September Social Hour ~ Getting to Know You: Imagine a Photo Album of your Life
Written by Arlene Reiff and Sigrid Duesberg
The idea was to imagine a “special photo album” that only contains three special photographs. We were thrilled to see that participants came prepared and shared with us not only their photos but also the stories behind the photos – often happy, family-related, sometimes more serious and sad. It was a real treat to see their photos and hear about key moments and people in their lives.
Quite a few showed photos of their parents, children as little ones, as adults and their delightful grandchildren. Others showed photos of their lives abroad -- Two had photos and stories to tell about being in the Peace Corps and one participant showed us her walking by the Great Wall of China with her daughter many years ago. Another member was seen sitting at the piano which played a very important role all his life in helping him to deal with his feelings.
We were also joined by a couple who did not show any photos, but told us so vividly about them that we had no problems imagining them, such as the “photo” taken while scuba diving in Okinawa (they are both certified scuba divers).
Sigrid and Arlene – who co-hosted the Social Hour – also had photos to share. Arlene started with a portrait of herself as a seven-year old – with her arms spread out like wings of resilience -- that is next to her entrance door and inspires her every day.
One of the photos Sigrid shared was a photo of herself at the “Wiener Musikverein” during the “Neujahrskonzert” (New Year’s Concert) 2016. This was a dream come true for her being able to attend this concert in her favorite city Vienna.
Thank you to all of you who shared and who were part of this very special, wonderful Social Hour. We hope to see you again and to inspire others to think about if you had to choose three photos from the scope of your life, which ones would they be and why.