Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Way back Wednesday: The Lost Years



When my mother was ill, we moved back to Georgia to help take care of her. When Mom made the decision at Moffit to turn down any palliative care and just go home and have hospice come in; she said she had things she wanted to take care of and go through pictures. She never did have the strength to go through her pictures. But I did.



I scanned every single picture in the house. Everything framed and in boxes and in drawers. I also looked through negatives my mother inherited from my grandmother. In the negatives I saw family photos that I recognized and already had copies of, I was interested in the shots before the ones I knew and the shots after. The shots that weren't good enough to keep, at that time at least.



I had some of the negatives developed. As fate would have it, the film didn't arrive until after Mom passed. You have no idea how hard it was to stand at the photo counter at Wally World and look at pictures that could have been taken yesterday. Only I knew that was impossible because even yesterday my Mom was dead.

This is turning a tad depressing and that was not my intention. So without further ado:


The Lost Years




This picture is so unlike anything I have ever seen of my mother. Ever. I notice she is wearing her high school class ring and that helps date the picture. If you look closely, that is an Easter bucket she is carrying with a jump rope attached to the side. Was it Easter? Wasn't she a tad too old for an Easter basket? Maybe she was going to a party. Look at those legs. Who knew Mom would wear something cut above the ankle. And if you look carefully, her toenails are painted. Painted! Who was this see-through-aproned woman? I am sure she got a kick out of watching me both laugh and cry when I saw this picture for the first time. And the fact that she once tried out to be the spokes model for St Pauly Girl beer, well that one, she took to the grave.

Today's fasting blood sugar is brought to you by the number 167.

~ame

2 comments:

Painted toenails and a see-through apron? On MOM???

I wouldn't believe it in a million years, but here it is.

:)

She looks like Dorothy!

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