Off The Duff

Millennial (and even some Gen X) social media users have become accustomed to the popping up of this popular hashtag on their Facebook and Instagram feeds every week on Thursdays.

“TBT” stands for “Throwback Thursday,” so people will ‘hashtag’ the acronym and post things like an awkward prom pic or an embarrassingly posed photo of them with their sibling, etc. on a weekly basis for their friends and followers to enjoy and subsequently rag on.

It is a practice that is silly, relatively harmless and mostly entertaining. Personally, I find myself habitually viewing these #tbt’s, but rarely putting my own images of yester year into cyber space.

Last night, however, stumbling across a ziploc bag of old photos that Dan and I had compiled for our Rehearsal Dinner slideshow, I opted to give it a go with a couple #tbt’s. It just so happened to be my best friend’s birthday, so I posted one on her Facebook wall as a virtual “gift” of nostalgia.

The memories came rushing back and continued as I thumbed through other photos on the floor of my living room. Here sat images of my friends and family, many of whom I’ve known and grown up with nearly the entirety of my closer-to-three-than-two decades on earth.

Having recently gotten married and boo-hoo’ing my way through the entire affair, the secret of my sentimentality is out. It amazed me, when looking through these photos, how many of these people have remained so close to me all this time as evidenced by not only attending my wedding but being IN my wedding.

All I have to say is thank god for friends and family, without whom we would have next to nothing. (And thank god for the weekly reminder of this through #tbt.)

Mom

Dad

Little bro (who’s been much bigger than me for a long time)

Beaver family

My Mama Jane

Leigh Ann (friend since elementary school; played violin in my wedding)

Kaitlin (gymnastics teammate and friend since elementary school; bridesmaid in my wedding)

Liza (friend since Middle School; Maid of Honor in my wedding)