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Mom

I love this photograph of my mother.

I would say she is around two, maybe, in the photograph. She would have lived in Arkansas, at that time.

By this time in her life she was (largely) being raised by my (maternal) great-grandparents. Her natural father had left before she was born. She only saw her natural father twice in her life. My grandmother was working to support herself and my mother…so Grannie and Pa-Pa raised her whilst my grandmother was working. For this reason my mother was always very close to her Grandmother and Grandfather.

The one word comment on the back of this photograph was written in my mother’s hand.
It reads, very simply, “UGH!”

I find it sad that she hates this image so much. I think she was a beautiful baby.

This is one of my very favorite baby pictures, ever.

Sand & Surf

This photograph takes us to Hawaii. And a bit forward in time (from the last images posted, anyway) as this photograph was taken in 1970. I am the little girl on the right.

I remember our trip to Hawaii, vividly.

I remember the HUGE bugs in our hotel room. And on the sidewalk. (I didn’t like bugs, then. I still don’t.) I remember singing some song–on a tiny tour boat–being led by a man who wanted us to stick our thumbs in our ears and waggle our remaining fingers towards the front of the boat, in time to whatever song it was that we were singing. I remember picking sugar cane. I remember watching a boy scale a tree to retrieve a coconut. I remember being amazed that he didn’t fall. I remember being stunned to find that McDonald’s existed in a place that had (to a three-year old) seemed so foreign. I remember going to several luaus. I remember the taste of poi (umm. YUCK!). I remember seeing Pearl Harbor. I remember the scent of the flowers in the air. I remember that it rained at nearly the same time, every day. I remember my chocolate candy necklace melted as we watched the hula dancers. I remember that having melted chocolate removed from my hair was not as much fun as eating the chocolate. I remember singing “Joy to the World” (by the Three Dog Night, not the Christmas song) at the top of my lungs, whilst jumping on the bed in our hotel room.

…I was high on the sugar cane I had eaten all day. What can I say?

And I remember sitting on this beach with my new friend. We enjoyed the feeling of the sand on our feet. We enjoyed the sound of the surf. We enjoyed watching the birds fly overhead. We didn’t talk, overly. We were just happy taking in the sights and the sounds on that sun-filled beach in Hawaii.

My mother took this photograph.
To this day it is one of my favorites.