As we’ve begun the process of going through my mother’s things following her death, we’ve found photos. Lots of them. Albums and boxes of them. Do you have a lot of old family photographs from the past? (Yes, some of us can remember a time when pictures were printed on paper and stored in albums or boxes instead of existing only as pixels on a screen and stored in the cloud.)

Do you know what I mean when I tell you that looking at those old photos gives me a sense of sweet sadness? I am happy to have them; they bring back some wonderful memories. But some of the same images make me sad and lonely for people, times and places that are no longer part of my life. I remember Mom looking through old photos and saying she was ”digging up bones."