Life's changes

As you may know, about a year ago, my grandmother (who taught me piano) passed away. I miss her, as I miss my other grandparents, but I also know that there is some peace for her; her last year was very rough. Our relationship was intense--with moments of great joy (naches) and moments of great stress (tsuris). I'm forever grateful for the gifts of music, language and teaching that she gave to me.
In the past few months, I spent a lot of time scanning her old photos to make them available to her whole extended family. As I did so, I looked at old, nearly nameless people and imagined their lives. I thanked them for coming to America, for working to make my world a better one. Also, it was odd to watch Nana age through the photos albums. Here, I've posted a few photos of her: one in childhood, one in late adolescence, and one, the last time I saw her. A certain spark remains in her eyes as she peers out through all the photos. A certain sadness is there, too.
Some of my dear friends have always been much younger than me. One of my New Jersey "families" has three daughters who are all in their early teens. I spent a lot of time over there when they were children and tweens, but life is complicated lately and our visits are rarer. Last night, the girls were upstairs with their new iPhones and I had some leisure time to spend with their parents. We took out old photos. It was exciting to see family pictures (old and new)from their home in Iran and to see my friends' siblings who I had never seen before. It was poignant to view the more recent and more local photos that I had taken over the years of the girls. Just a few years have passed and yet so much has changed. And yet, last night, the closeness I felt and the comfort and ease of being that I felt in their home was just like always.
We change. We remain connected.