The Photograph
I visited a friend today and saw a photo on her dresser: a 5X8, beautifully framed picture of a smiling woman, hat at a jaunty angle, hair bobbed, flower on her lapel. The woman must have been in her thirties, at a period full of vitality and even a hint of daring in the twinkle of her eyes.
Who is that woman? I asked, knowing in my heart exactly who it was.
My mother, answered my friend.
Yes, I knew that, but who is that woman really, I repeated. Besides knowing her as your mother, what do you know about her? I want to meet her.
And of course my friend looked at me sadly. She said, I know so little about her and wish I could find out more. Really there is no one left to ask now. When they were all still here, I didn’t know I would miss them and it didn’t interest me to ask.
So that’s my point. If there are family members you can speak to, don’t delay. If there are relatives, friends of family, letters, stories repeated on holidays, take note. But if there aren’t these resources, it still isn’t too late.
What do you know about the woman in the picture? Go inside, make it up. What did she care about the most? What would you say is the thing that troubled her, and maybe never got resolved in her life?
Keep going with your imagination….. and I’ll keep posing questions for you to ponder. You know alot more than you realize because what wasn’t sorted out in her life, is showing up in mysterious ways in yours. To be continued!