Photography changes what we see and remember from childhood
Story by visitor contributor
Taylor B. Lothson
Taylor B. Lothson, from Lincoln, Nebraska, participated in an 8th grade Language Arts writing project that explored how photographs can illustrate a true experience or event and also reveal an unspoken reality behind the image.
Ten years ago I lived in Raynham, Massachusetts with my mom, dad, and older sister. The memories of my three years there are very faint. At the time this photograph was taken we look like two cute kids dressed as a butterfly and giraffe ready to claim candy. In reality the girl dressed as a butterfly would throw horrible tantrums and she would kick and scream if she didn’t get her way. Allison looks excited and happy that it is Halloween. I look bored and mad in this picture. The untold reality in this picture is that my parents weren’t getting along and were about to get a divorce. I don’t remember much about the divorce but the one memory that stays clear in my brain is the day my dad left.
I was in the living room paying with some toys and my dad walks out of my mom’s and his room with a suitcase in hand. I look up and see him marching down the stairs. From there my dad moved to Pennsylvania, probably to move in with Shaunna. After my third birthday my mom, sister, and I moved to Lincoln. When we first got here we lived in my aunt’s basement. Then we moved into an apartment once we had the money. When my Aunt decided to move we bought her house, which was in the second grade. We don’t see our dad too often anymore because he lives in Virginia and he says he doesn’t have enough money to fly us down there to visit him but I wonder if there is another reason?
