Out of the blue, my mother received a package from my dad’s office this summer.  It contained a CD of personal photos they had saved from Dad’s computer.  What an amazing and thoughtful gift from dad’s co-workers. What a reminder of the man we lost nearly two years ago.

The vast majority of the photos on his computer were of family members, and most of these pictures we’ve all seen before.  Pictures of each of us kids, weddings, and grandchildren – Including this picture of me, with my niece and nephew, at my wedding five years ago tomorrow.

But the really interesting photos I had not seen before.  These were photos of my dad from his tour of duty in Viet Nam in 1968.

It’s so interesting to look at the contents of someone’s computer.  There is so much evidence of who we are lying around in those files.  It would be easy, of course, to jump to conclusions about a person’s values, or who they are, based on their computer files.  But that wouldn’t be quite fair.  For instance, if a person wasn’t represented in photographs on the computer, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that the person was unloved, or unimportant.  But, like poking around in someone’s bookshelves, or pantry, or closet, maybe we can find a little extra insight.

The photo I’d really like a little insight on is this one.

I would just love to know the story behind this.  I’m sure it involved a lot of laughter.

What’s on your computer?