Last Sunday, in honor of Grandparents’ Day, I posted a picture of my maternal grandmother. I commented that I wished I had a photo of her and I together.
Shortly after I posted it, the husband of one of my cousins shared this photo in a comment to my post:
That’s my mom on the far left (rockin’ the red “tennies”), me sitting on the ground, and my Grandma directly behind me, wearing the blue dress. It was 1961. I was eight.
Whenever I’m fortunate enough to obtain a new-to-me copy of an old family photo, I just study it for days and days. Here are my observations about this one:
It was obviously taken in the summertime, since we’re all in short sleeves (except Aunt Lucille on the far right, who’s wearing a sweater and scarf. But if you ever knew Aunt Lucille, you’d understand…).
My mom had suffered a severely broken ankle the summer before, and wore a cast for about four months. And, when this picture was taken, she was ten years younger than I am now.
I was going into the third grade that fall, but summertime when you’re eight years old seems to go on forever. School was probably the farthest thing from my mind when this picture was taken, thus the smile.
My mom had, most likely, attempted to trim my bangs. And I had not wanted to sit still while she did so, thus the lopsided hair cut.
I was about to become an aunt for the fourth time a few months later in November, when my sister would give birth to my niece, Donna.
On tv that summer, we were watching, among others, Dick Van Dyke, Red Skelton, Danny Thomas, The Rifleman (I had a crush on his son, Mark) and Dr. Kildare (also an object of my affection). Back when tv was good.
This picture was taken in the yard of a little country store that my grandmother owned and operated. Since it was about a half mile from where Mom and I lived, we visited her every day. Grandma would be with us for eight more years. I’ve often wished I had spent more time with her, asked her more questions about her life…
Although I remember her as a sweet person, she looks so serious in many of the photos she’s in; I’m glad she’s smiling in this one. And I’m very grateful to my cousin-in-law for sharing it with me.
~These Days Of Mine~
