Old Family Photos

Dear Family,

Ever since I was very little, I've loved to look at old family photos. Anything before I was born facinated me, like the pictures my Grandpa Becktell took at the New Tribes Missions training camp or pictures of their trip to Mt St. Helen's with my parents before it blew. Sometimes our own lives seem stagnant; the future is uncertain, we don't always know what we want to do in life. There are so many possibilities. Possiblity overload is a problem of my generation in particular. However, when I look at pictures of my parents and grandparents, they don't seem stagnant, or hesitant at all. That would be impossible. Their story has already been told. There is a comforting solidness and surity in their smiles. There is motion and direction in their lives. All this I percieve even though they probably didn't feel at all like they had things figured out at the time. But if I feel as if I don't know what to do with my life, my job is to look to them and their stories for inspiration, to find continuity with the past.

Anyway, that was all to say that I have uploaded some photos to Flickr.com, which you can see in the right sidebar of this blog if you scroll down. I hope to upload much more in the future, and I would like them to be a resource for all the grandchildren of Herbert W. Butt and also his great grandchildren. If anyone in my family objects to particular photographs being on the web, please let me know.

Love,
Marty B.