Related by Marriage: Write down what you think is important.

A few years ago, Mr. Irene asked his Mom to gather the historical family photos in an album. My Mother-in-law pasted the photos onto the album's black pages. She used a silver scrapbooking pen to number each album page, and she assigned a letter to each photo.

Mr. Irene had suggested that his Mom provide the location, date, and a short explanation or story about each photo. She wrote the photo annotations in a simple, black spiral notebook. It's easy to follow the explanations in the notebooks, and most of them provide clues about why Mr. Irene's Mom thought the photo merited inclusion in the album. For example, one of the picnic culture posts derives largely from her notebook entry for that photo.

I noticed that the album carefully records the family's history of auto ownership. There's a photo of Mr. Irene, from the late 1970s, standing next to his Grandfather Stanley's last car, a 1969, teal Plymouth Valiant. Mr. Irene's Mom noted that it was significant that Mr. Irene drove that Valiant after Stanley died. 

You can get a taste of the importance my Mother-in-law attributed to the cars here and here and here.

When I came across this adorable photo of Mr. Irene and his Mom, standing in front of their house, I anticipated that a cute story might accompany the image.

In the notebook, my Mother-in-law wrote, "1956 Chevy—Bel Aire." And that's all she wrote.

Suburban Chicago, March 1963. Mr. Irene and his Mom stand in front of the family car. Look! That might be my Mom's turquoise Ford Customline behind them.

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Suburban Chicago, Summer 1977. Mr. Irene sits on the hood of Stanley's Plymouth Valiant. He's in the alley behind his house.

Mr. Irene and I went on a date in that very car in March 1977—to "Dingbat's," a disco in downtown Chicago—and the car wouldn't start when we set out for home. So there I was, on Michigan Avenue, knowing that my strict Parents would spit bullets if I missed my 11:00 pm curfew.