I have mentioned here before that I have been scanning all my photos so that I don't have to carry the originals to Mexico with us. This has become a seemingly endless task, but one that has been a lot of fun, too. I'm looking forward to the ease of browsing through them - just telling the computer to run slide shows while I sit and watch.

A couple of pictures made me think about farewells, and how hard it is to contemplate being separated from family.

The first is my grandfather (on the far left) and (I believe) his brothers in a farewell photograph as they separated at the onset of the Armenian holocaust. Look at the dramatic way they grasp each others hands!

The second is my grandmother (top left) in the same circumstance with her family. Each of them is holding a folded handkerchief that signifies their sadness at being separated and that they will always remember each other. The folds in the image are because she carried this picture in her wallet nearly her entire life.

I know it will be hard sometimes to be separated from my sisters and my kids. (and other family, too)Thankfully technology today makes it easy for us to keep in touch almost as if we were down the street. But that almost is still there, and I can't change that fact.

What I am trying to say here is that I understand a bit of what my grandparents were feeling. I will miss my family and will do my best to be a good parent, sister, and grandmother in spite of the distance between us.