It is time for another edition of my Friday Photo Flashback. If you are a new reader to my blog, this feature started with a writing prompt that asked for you to find a picture that brought about memories or emotions and post the picture with comments about it.
Today, I am posting a picture that is over 20 years old. It is one that I haven’t seen in probably that long. I stumbled on a long forgotten folder on my hard drive which contained some scans from my dad. He had scanned this picture of my oldest son, Dante’. This came from a 1st birthday photo shoot.
I believe that we had these pictures taken at Walmart. Do they even do photos anymore? I don’t think so.
It is crazy to see him this little! I remember those deep brown eyes and him parting his hair like that. I remember how cute I thought it was that he was holding his arm like that for this picture. It is really hard to even begin to express the feelings I had when I saw this one again.
It was around this time that we noticed some developmental delays. We had him evaluated and got him into some therapy early, which really helped him as he grew up. I remember starting with a Developmental Delay diagnosis, then an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, finally an Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis. Thanks to early intervention, and therapies, he is doing very well. Nothing can stop him! He has a good job, he has his own vehicle and he is going to college. I couldn’t be more proud of him.
It is pretty amazing to look at this one year old kid in the photo and know how far he has come and where he is at now. He looks way different now – glasses, beard, and I don’t think he bothers to part his hair! What a wonderful adventure it has been!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
it is so interesting to look back –
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I love the film photos better than digital… this looks like film anyway. They grow up too fast Keith. It seems it took my childhood forever to get through…but watching it is different than living it.
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I couldn’t agree more! The picture, by the way, was scanned from the print.
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They had digital back then but I think they mostly used film….it has a warm look…kinda like CD vs Albums
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Great photo even if he looks a little like he’s about to start crying any second! Who didn’t have Walmart (or in Canada, sometimes Sears of the Bay) family pictures back then? They were generic but usually nice enough portraits that mean more now looking back.
I agree with Max, I do like film pictures. I worked in that field for so long I really can detect a difference, even if it’s hard to describe. Especially B&W… I’ve still not seen a digital BW shot that quite matches the nuances and detail of a shot on Ilford or old Kodak BW film.
Glad he’s doing well! My older brother was recently diagnosed as Aspbergers – he was in his 50s – he’s lived on his own for years and makes do but does have some trouble with socializing. A few have suggested I probably fall under that diagnosis too, but perhaps a little less noticeably, which could be right I guess. Here we have a family member (one of my sweetie’s nephews) who is significantly Autistic. He can’t live by himself, so is in a group home, not very verbal or anything but he’s a happy soul and brings many of us joy when we see him.
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We have occasionally gone to JC Penney for photos, and there is a local gal who does fantastic work, who we will be seeing for Andrew’s first birthday pictures next month.
I agree in regards to Black and White photos – the digital ones just don’t look right!
I had no idea of the various degrees of Autism when we found out about my son. They range from nonverbal to extremely intelligent. We went to a Christmas party when he was a youngster and it was there that I witnessed those on different areas of the spectrum.
My son is a social butterfly. He talks with everyone. He is empathetic and will go out of his way to help someone if he is able.
Those on the spectrum do bring about a lot of joy!
I think I am a bit on the spectrum. I see a lot of those little things that my son did/does and know that I did/do them. Funny how you become more aware of those things when you are familiar with the diagnosis.
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very true. My sweetie says that maybe 20 years back when she talked about the nephew and told people he was autistic, their usual reaction was something like “oh that’s wonderful! Does he paint or sculpt?’ Now people largely have some degree of understanding of the … syndrome? What is it? Not a disease but I’m not sure what it would be classified as.
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