I found a folder of photos my father kept in the late 1940s -- in it was that evanescent pic of my brother at 5 I just posted, and that gorgeous profile pic of my mother I just posted, and a formal portrait of his mother - my German grandmother, whom I called Oma, featured here -- they were the lights of his life (my light hadnt arrived yet). Im so moved by his having kept them for himself. And then I found the third pic affixed here of Oma & my mother -- during the war, when my father was away (stationed in the south, he never made it overseas). This was a time when mother and wife really got to know and love each other. Theyd occasionally eat in the west village (known solely as The Village then) at bohemian Italian restaurants (what other kind were there?) -- they bonded, with warm good humor & affection, as friends. You get that from them here. (Im so lucky that every member of my family loved to laugh.) The first pic is here for contrast, one Ive posted before of my grandmother when she was Elsie Hilgen, probably about 17 or 18 -- shes sitting down, her younger sister is standing - ca. 1900 in Bremen. Good well-brought-up Northern German girls. Look at their posture! These pics & notes of course barely brush the reality of anyone Ive mentioned. But they do at least brush it -- and theres some sort of magic brushed off them for me, and I hope for you. Im very aware that everyone looking at these pics has a vast & equally odd wonderful, sometimes harrowing meshed family back story every bit as rich as this. However, you more than likely havent just been deluged with large boxes of mementos from it! Therell be more. Thanks for your forbearance. ;-)
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 20:14:52 +0000
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