Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Skinny Braids and All


Last night, Kidlet and I looked through a couple of photo albums. They were what you might call my “Best of Childhood” set, photos taken from birth until about age fourteen. Kidlet said she felt a little sad looking at the photos and suddenly I was overcome by a swelling of bittersweet emotion as well. The majority of the people in the photos are no longer here. My parents were so beautiful and in love. I thought about the relative simplicity of childhood through photos, me running through forests, celebrating holidays, hugging my parents.

But then Kidlet pointed to a photo of me at about age ten, sitting next to a mountain stream. She asked, “Is that me? That looks like me.” After that, I was drawn to studying the flow of time, watching my Mama turn from kid to middle age. I looked at photos of her mother, the age my mother is now, looking for the similarities and thinking about where I fit in.

Finally, humor. I pointed to a photo of me with skinny braids, blowing out the candles on my ninth birthday cake. I told Kidlet, “Look! Nothing changes!” And I pointed to the skinny braids curling about my neck.

It’s about time I put together some photo albums together of Kidlet, Hubs, and me.

5 comments:

Kate said...

Don't put it off, life passes too quickly!

Unknown said...

I love that picture. I especially love the frame of the puzzle underneath the cake. It's so reminiscent of my own childhood, minus the skinny braids. I just had an afro. :)

Bean said...

I had feathered hair around the same age, I HATED IT haha!! Oh, the 70's.

hooray for Tom Robbins ;)

Vanessa/NessieNoodle said...

I love this post Ani.
such great words/ideas...
yes, make those albums!! they are a true tressure.

raining sheep said...

Awww! I love old photos as well. I don't have that many, but I keep trying to convince my dad to scan some of our old slides from when we first emigrated to Canada from the Czech Republic...I tell you, on some of those photos I just totally look like an import :) Back to school next week! I am doing a 400 level course on organizational psychology!!! Don't know what to think.