Fan Photo of the Day, December 31, 2020, by Diane Steever Anderson
Yesterday I posted 2020’s last FAN PHOTO of the DAY on our Facebook page—a lovely capture of a lovely end of year tradition. Every year Grandpa Tracy measures all of the grandkids to see how much they’ve grown. It’s all recorded there on the wall of his barn. Diane, a grandmother on the other side of the family, had the good sense to record the recording. Sometimes a child spurts up five or six inches in twelve months! (And when they do it in black and white it’s just all the better.)
It sort of sums up why we’re still here in our HTPYL community and that’s worth an annual remembrance and celebration. We record the passage of time in the faces and actions of the people we love as the years fly by like time lapse video.
Posting these photos is a little like going out to our mutually shared barn, nailing an image to the wall, and then going back to the house knowing we can always head out again and put our eyes and fingers on it, temporarily returning to that notch in the wall of time. Maybe we go with family or friends or maybe we just go alone.
As so often with the photographs you folks shoot, a face – in this case a boy’s face – pretty much says it all. It’s always the simple things for me. They have so much weight.
And so you have my heartfelt gratitude for letting me be the guy who gets to share your photographs (and families and flowers and clouds) with people you’ve never met, enriching their lives and mine and hopefully yours. I know that some of your photographs have touched people in ways you cannot imagine. We have done good work together. I’m so proud of us.
2020 was an extraordinarily challenging year for all. And here at HTPYL we have been on an extended hiatus—for another reason too, which I’ll explain to you in the next few days. But the one thing that remained steadfast in our community was the sharing of families and lives through photographs and my featuring one fan photo each day on our facebook page. Thank you all for continuing this tradition even through tough times.
Now, more than ever, the entire Kelsh family wishes you and yours and theirs and everyone else a new year that brings us all closer together and makes our barn an even more sacred place to be, and it was pretty darn sweet to begin with.
Barns, by the way, have some of the most beautiful natural light in the world. Coincidence? I think not.
Glorious picture, Diane. Thank you.
CLICK HERE to see the original post and comments on facebook, add a comment of your own, and share the message with anyone you know who might enjoy following our fan photos in 2021.
Or comment below to let us know your end of year thoughts—we would love to hear from each and every one of you.
And be sure to watch out for our soon to be released TOP 50 FAN PHOTOS OF 2020! Every year I swear I’m going to post my annual list of the best of the best on January 1 and every year I swear because it drags on for a few days. As my kids get older the process becomes more time consuming. What used to take me ninety minutes by myself now takes three days to get through the Kelsh Family Committee. Anyway, it’s coming. The pictures are beautiful and you will love it.
Happy New Year!
Let’s stay in focus in 2021. Together.
p.s. If you’ve enjoyed our Fan Photos of the Day and know anyone else who might please share this post and invite them to join our mailing list. Or click here to share the original post with your friends on Facebook.
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