A photo is worth a thousand words or so the saying goes...

It can be but is it the true story?

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I was tagged by @Enginewitty in @Bliss11's #5yearsphotochallenge. I was not looking forward to doing it, to be honest. I know where my head was at five years ago. I try my best to skip over almost a decade of my life when looking back.

Not wanting to disappoint @Bliss11, who finally has restarted, hopefully, The Challenge Craze. I admit it took me a few days to figure out how to come to terms with this challenge.

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Five years ago I do not look much different on the outside, if at all, then I do now. I am going to go out on a limb and say age has something to do with this. Showing two photos that would look the same essentially does not make an interesting challenge post for people to read.

I thought about going back to my beginnings and posting a photo of me in my first year of life and five years later but that meant I would have to clean off my scanner piled with.....ahhhhh....stuff. The 'stuff' would have to be moved to another place where I would not misplace it. This would mean cleaning and organizing my desk area which glares at me each day.

I moved on to other ideas of how I could finish Bliss11's challenge promptly. Off to FB, I went. It was the only place I could think of where I might have some photos I did not have to scan that do not look like I do now.

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I will give you a warning that looking at old FB photos will take you more than fifteen minutes.

The memories will make you linger longer than you might wish.

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I now had a folder with some older photos of myself that did not look horrible but did not look like I exactly do now. It was close to 11:00 pm Friday when I opened my writing program to make this post. After staring at a blank page with a title for twenty minutes I decided sleep was in order. Four hours later I found myself staring at the same blank page.

Opening the folder with the downloaded photos I took a fresh look at them and the dates. Two photos stuck out. Both had me smiling and not looking stupid. Both good things. What did stick out was the year they were both taken. It was the same year approximately six months apart.

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The story behind this photo makes me smile. It was taken at my Father in Law, Gerry's, first and only surprise birthday party. I have to give my Sister in Law credit for pulling it off. A more surprised man you never have seen. My Mother's sister is in this photo with me.

My son and I lived in the Mother in Law suite of her house for a few years. It was wonderful to chat and catch up with her on how things were going in her life. I also had on my favorite top I wore out on in this photo.

Life was good. I had my dream job. Friends and family around me. I could not have asked for more.

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The next photo was taken the same year about six months later. My husband and I were attending a friend's wedding. Our friend Dan, who was taking the photo, kept telling jokes and making me crack up laughing. I was also wearing one of the most favorite dresses I have ever owned.

This photo makes me both happy and sad when I look at it.

The happy parts of this photo are the dress of course! I also think it is one of the best photos of my husband and I. The thought of Dan trying to get me to laugh is still ingrained in my memories. I owe him big time for that.

What this photo doesn't show is how miserable my life was becoming. I had unexpectedly lost 60 to 80 pounds in less than three months. I was very sick and still trying to work fulltime. No Doctor could tell me what was wrong with me. I had zero energy.

Making it to this wedding was done by sheer will alone. I was in a tremendous amount of pain in this photo. We made it through the wedding and dinner and left as soon as it was polite to do so.

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On to the present day.

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The thumbnail for this post was taken three days ago. I do like the photo or I would not have posted it. What the story behind the photo means to me is more then what the photo looks like.

In the video where this photo comes from I received a new subscription box for false eyelashes. One item of beauty I had never played with. The cool thing about this box was it came with four very different kinds of lashes. I like how in the video you can see my looks change with each pair I put on.

I had a blast opening and playing with this new subscription box. So much so I played with the lashes again the very next night. Spending two hours being silly in front of a camera brings me joy.

The photo I posted doesn't scream laughter and joy when looking at it to most people. It does to me. At the end of the day, photos should be for yourself and your memories. If you choose to share the real memories behind a photo that is your choice.

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Today a person can take over a hundred selfies to get the perfect one. While it is wonderful to look at photos of others, make sure you do not read too much into what you see. A photo is a moment in time caught and frozen. There is always much more behind a photo then what a person lets you see.

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* Rules/ Rewards

Reglas/Recompensas

• It must be a photo of you before and after..at least 5years but then I wouldn't know, just be honest with yourself.

Debe ser una foto de tí de hace al menos 5 años y de ahora, 5 años después. Sé honesto/a contigo mismo/a.

• Use the #5yearsphotochallenge as one of your first 3 tags and post in any community of your choice. But I'd suggest you post selfie photos in the face of hive community.

Usa la etiqueta #5yearsphotochallenge entre las 3 primeras de tu post y publícalo en cualquier comunidad de tu elección. Te recomendaría la comunidad de Hive.

• The first 5 persons to participate would get 1 Hive each and thanks to my friend @mistakili the person with the best challenge post will get 5 Hive.

Las primeras 5 personas en participar recibirán 1 Hive cada una. Gracias a mi amigo @mistakii la persona elegida con el mejor post del reto ganará 5 Hive.

• Tag 3 persons you wish to see a photo of them from at least 5years NOT mandatory just for the fun of it.

I am tagging @Econinstant, @TheMarkyMark, @Josediccus and @Emsonic

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