I was born on a Thursday, so on Thursdays you get to see Lone Star Lifer grow through the years.
I usually don’t comment on my Lone Star Lifer pictures. But I want to today.
My dad and mom normally took slides instead of snapshots. When we wanted to look through the picture album, we got out the slide projector and put pictures on the wall. (No screen) I loved to look at pictures of our family, of our friends, of our travels, of the different houses in which we lived through the years. Even when I went away to college, we would pull out the projector when I was home for holidays. And I ran off more than one boyfriend making him sit through “the slide show.”
When I looked at the slides, I looked at them in relation to me.
My dad passed away in September 1998, and I have not looked at the slides since he died. I recently ran home to see my mom and decided to bring slides back and have them put on CD’s. I came across these two pictures, and instead of looking at myself, I looked at my parents. Really looked at them. For the first time, I felt I understood their feelings as they stood and held their baby girl. The hope that comes with new life. The joy, the pride, the happiness, the completeness of having your own family. The newness of each day, the anxiety of parenting correctly, the day-to-day, minute-to-minute adjustments of having a toddler in your home. I honestly never thought much of my parents as young, new parents. They were always just my parents and I loved them unreservedly. Now with a child of my own, I look at the people in these pictures and feel so much closer to them than I ever thought possible.
Have you ever stopped to think what your parents went through when you were very young? Now that you are grown and know how much it costs to raise a child, how you have to balance home, work, parenting, budgets, school, the endless decisions and worries of how to keep them safe, giving them independence yet wanting them to still need you, etc., do you look at your folks differently? I certainly do!
All photographs and writing property of LoneStarLifer. 2009.
Filed under: growing up, Personal picture | Tagged: lone star lifer, me, Thursday's Child | 2 Comments »
LONE STAR LIFER. my roots run deep 