When this photo was taken my mother was young and single. She had no way to predict that she would be granted ninety-three years of life on this planet or be partner in a marriage that lasted over fifty years, ending only with the death of my father. She could have had no idea she would carry ten babies under her heart, but see only eight of them survive her.
She is so young in this photograph. The slight smile on her face and the gleam in her eyes hint at a heart filled with dreams. I will never know what those dreams were. Never know how many of them came true. I can guess that having grown up an orphan she was anxious to get out into the world to make a life of her own, but she never told me that. She offered very few glimpses into the life she had led before this photo was taken.
On summer nights we used to sit on the front stoop and look at the stars. She often talked about the dreams she had for my future. The world was moving fast then and she saw fantastic changes in technology coloring the world I would know. She would make outrageous predictions, and we would laugh. As the laughter faded and she grew quiet, her gaze would return to the stars. We would sit quietly each lost in our thoughts. How many of her thoughts were of the young girl in this photograph and the dreams in her heart? She would not say, and I would never know.
In response to a Mama Kat prompt: Share an old picture of a parent or grandparent and tell who they were back then.
What lovely and thoughtful observations, and what a gift to have an image of your mother at that age.
I think this is her high school graduation photograph. She was 42 when she had me so I never knew her when she looked like this. Still, I can see her in the eyes and the smile.
How great to have a mother who made outrageous predictions for your future! It meant that for her the sky was the limit for you. Not all people can say that about their parents. She was a beautiful lady.
What a gift that memory of sitting under the stars with your mother must be. My mother is 80, suddenly advancing very quickly in age. Frighteningly so. I’m travelling next week to celebrate she and my father’s 60th wedding anniversary. I’ve had recurring whispers that I need to go visit her – just her, after the celebration ends. Reading this nudges me to make that reservation to Phoenix next month. There’s no one in the whole wide world like our mother – and there are no dreams as big and hopeful and loving as a mother’s dreams for her children.
Do it….go, go, go! We knew time was short for the last year and a half of Mom’s life. I don’t regret a single trip I made to be with her.
Very nice! Your mother was lovely!
Thank you.
Beautiful. Women of that generation seldom spoke of their own life or selves. Those moments on the porch looking at the stars are a story to be told. Thank you.
I wonder if they felt they could speak of their aspirations. That is an interesting point.
I always love your posts. Very nicely done friend! She’s beautiful.
Thank you. I don’t really remember seeing this photo growing up, but it surfaced at her funeral in May. I can’t get over how much looking into her eyes is like looking into my own.