This is my dad’s father Thomas, who I never met, and his mother Della. My yia-yia keeps this on a dresser in her room, and told me that Della used to say her grandkids (my dad and his siblings) were each “worth more than a million dollars.” Photos like this and the ones lining my ancestors’ bedroom walls make me ache for a people, place, and time I have only experienced second and third hand. Photos truly do keep memories alive, as do hearts and minds.