Tuesday, December 19, 2006

deckled edges



most of the old family snapshots tucked into my mother's letters are warmly familiar, but this one - which arrived not long ago - was a revelation to me.
i (perhaps because i had never seen it before) find it intensely intricate, and moving: beyond the homely length of checked tablecloth, the spacious sweep of lakeshore, and the tidy piles of melamine dishes, i see the concentration on my mother's face, and the total trust and adoration in mine. i am stirred by the delicate curve of her slender arms, and her tousled hair, by her innocent determination to do things the right way, and by her sheer and utter youth.
i have no memory of this her - i was just three - but this insight into this her delights, and touches me.

9 comments:

  1. very touching and very special :)
    i enjoy finding the gems in my mom's album that give me a glimpse into a life i was somehow a part of but is beyond my memory's dream ... thank you for sharing ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. How very sweet that it conjures such feelings for you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a wonderful surprise to get such a photo. And doesn't it say a lot about the power of photography? It's just an image, and yet it's a world as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Superb photo! A very good looking woman! But then so are you :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. i love that your eyes see all of this...that they look into the image and not just at it...

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is touching; and in this way photos are like madeleines, that make you remember things that you do not remember. Great photo & lines, Lynn.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just back home from Ottawa and huge warm family Christmas where I missed you! I too am impressed and touched at your response to this glimpse into those years that lit up my life and changed me forever - with love, mom

    ReplyDelete
  8. do you know where it was taken?
    it is lovely.

    ReplyDelete