Look at the background of old photos. That’s usually where the real memories are hiding.

The posed part of a photograph is the part somebody tried to make. The background is where the actual life got in: the kitchen as it really was, a cousin not looking, the ordinary mess nobody arranged. That is why old pictures reward a second pass, and why the detail that moves you later is rarely the one in focus.

Find an old photo at home and study everything except the faces at the front. Ask a parent or grandparent about one thing you spot back there. Write down whatever they tell you.