If you’ve ever had an older person in your life, someone you looked up to, you probably loved listening to their stories over the years. Stories of when they were younger, of their formative years. Perhaps they’d told you about times in the Army or Navy. Or in college, living the good life in the sorority of their dreams. Tryouts for the college football team, or that track and field event where they took the championship and secured a scholarship.
It’s likely that they have more than a few of these stories under their belt and likelier still that you’ve heard all of them more than once. But it’s a good bet that you still love hearing them, not because there is any surprise left to be had, but because of how the person lights up when they tell it. It’s like they are transported back to that age, be it 15, 25, or 35. There they are reliving it all again and taking you along for the ride too. They seem to glow from within – like they’ve received an energetic shot from the past.
Reflections Of A Younger You
As a wee one hanging out with this older person while they regale you with their memories, it’s all about the story. It’s the exciting thing that happened or place that they visited. As a young person, you have yet to see much of the world, so it’s all new to you. And somewhat foreign too – the idea that this authority figure in your life could have once been your age, your size. It’s difficult to wrap one’s young mind around.
While growing up, you start to have these formative experiences for yourself… rush week, the winning touchdown, a life-changing road trip, your first baby. Life moves fast, and sometimes it feels like you barely have time to catch your breath. Before you know it, that baby of yours is a teenager. Perhaps you’re a senior manager or a tenured professor. Your body’s a little creakier than it once was, but you’ve built quite a life for yourself. Now you’ve got some stories of your own. You don’t feel so old, but your reflection betrays you…you’ve certainly lived. And it shows.
Reflections Of Humanity
Photographer Tom Hussey’s poignant series “Reflections” invites us to look at ourselves and each other with new eyes. Many of us feel younger than we are, thanks to all the life we’ve lived and the memories we’ve created. Though we may be well past our college years, there’s a part of us that’s still the star quarterback. Or even with retirement age in our rearview, part of us is still at the top of our game back at the agency. With depictions of older people beholding reflections of their younger selves, we are offered a chance to look with tenderness upon the aging process. Looking with fondness at both, the young and the old, for there is so much value in each place. Indeed you can’t have one without the other. “Reflections” reminds us not to fret at the number of years gone by, but to celebrate the life breathed into those years.
