Happy Mother’s Day!
[NOTE: This is a repeat of what has become my annual Mother’s Day post. It was written while my mother was still alive.]
Okay, who are these three dark beauties?
A hint: one of them is the very first picture you’ve ever seen on this blog of neo-neocon, sans apple. Not that you’d recognize me, of course. Even my own mother might not recognize me from this photo.
My own mother, you say? Of course she would. Ah, but she’s here too, looking a bit different than she does today—Mother’s Day—at ninety-eight years of age. Just a bit; maybe her own mother wouldn’t recognize her, either.
Her own mother? She’s the one who’s all dressed up, with longer hair than the rest of us.
The photo of my grandmother was taken in the 1880’s; the one of my mother in the teens of the twentieth century; and the one of me, of course, in the 1950s.
Heredity, ain’t it great? My mother and grandmother are both sitting for formal portraits at a professional photographer’s studio, but by the time I came around amateur snapshots were easy to take with a smallish Brownie camera. My mother is sitting on the knee of her own grandfather, my grandmother’s father, a dapper gentleman who was always very well-turned out. I’m next to my older brother, who’s reading a book to me but is cropped out of this photo. My grandmother sits alone in all her finery.
We all not only resemble each other greatly in our features and coloring, but in our solemnity. My mother’s and grandmother’s seriousness is probably explained by the strange and formal setting; mine is due to my concentration on the book, which was Peter Pan (my brother was only pretending to read it, since he couldn’t read yet, but I didn’t know that at the time). My mother’s resemblance to me is enhanced by our similar hairdos (or lack thereof), although hers was short because it hadn’t really grown in yet, and mine was short because she purposely kept it that way (easier to deal with).
My grandmother not only has the pretty ruffled dress and the long flowing locks, but if you look really closely you can see a tiny earring dangling from her earlobe. When I was young, she showed me her baby earrings; several miniature, delicate pairs. It astounded me that they’d actually pierced a baby’s ears (and that my grandmother had let the holes close up later on, and couldn’t wear pierced earrings any more), whereas I had to fight for the right to have mine done in my early teens.
I’m not sure what my mother’s wearing; some sort of baby smock. But I know what I have on: my brother’s hand-me-down pajamas, and I was none too happy about it, of that you can be sure.
So, a very happy Mother’s Day to you all! What would mothers be without babies…and mothers…and babies….and mothers….?
Happy mothers day to you esteemed one.
Such thoughtful serious looking girls. Lol. Grampa manages a hearty smile, all in all charming!
Happy mom’s day everybody! We are having a cookout, great day for it. 68, Sunny, no humidity.
Happy Mother’s Day, Neo. I always enjoy those photos, and your reminiscences. :>))
Happy Mother’s Day Neo…and all you other mothers…
It appears there are some “alignment” issues on the blog today Boss…the Amazon stuff overlaps the photo of your mom.
Ok…it healed itself…or there’s magic here we know nothing about 😉
How lovely. I’m slightly jealous of those who know their heritage – my family origins are limited – there was a lot of bickering and people who would stop talking to each other. Sad.
Happy Mother’s Day!
I know, I know. I’ve seen this post in the past, but I still have to just say, Aw-w-w-w-w-w.
Every year I see these photos they delight me.
Mothers, well most of them, are to cherish. My mom who has passed is still alive in my memory. My sweetheart is cherished, and my daughter and daughter in laws are cherished. Women and children first.
You look so alike, I always think the pictures are of the same person at first! And so cute!
Happy mother’s day!
Last August, I flew back east to be there for my mother’s 95th birthday anniversary. My mother had always been in excellent health, but last year she took ill, and it was very evident that her 95th was going to be her last. As it turned out, she had held out primarily to be there for the small gathering my sister had organized; my mom died just five days days later.
My late wife, mother to my three grown children, died a dozen years ago, but my now-wife has been a wonderful step-mom to my three children. So I did have someone to wish a happy Mother’s Day this year — and what a blessing she has been!
Sad mothers day…
we are barren thanks to work, lying and cheating handicapped till too late – race gender policies… destroyed my wife… (me i dont matter, never did, never will)…
but we spend the weekend trying to find out if my niece was ok, she was in surabaya… bombs went off… she is ok… but someone my wife knows lost her two kids and doesnt know it as she is in the hospital with burns…
sorry…
🙁
Esther Says:
May 14th, 2018 at 1:18 am
You look so alike, I always think the pictures are of the same person at first! And so cute!
Happy mother’s day!
* * *
Time travel…
Artfldgr Says:
May 14th, 2018 at 10:41 am
Sad mothers day…
we spend the weekend trying to find out if my niece was ok, she was in surabaya… bombs went off… she is ok… but someone my wife knows lost her two kids and doesnt know it as she is in the hospital with burns…
* * *
Sad indeed — having someone you know injured in one of these attacks makes the news so much more real — sometimes I think we who haven’t personally experienced one of them (from whatever source) treat the rest of the world (or even America) as if it were some kind of movie (holodeck?) that we can forget once the TV is off and the internet shut down for the night.
Condolences to you and your wife for your friend’s loss.
* * *
Surabaya’s attach is such a shocking opposite to the sentiments we usually see on Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day as well.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44104887
“The past days’ deadly Islamist attacks in Indonesia have stood out because two families – parents and their very own children – were the attackers.
While children have been used as suicide bombers before, it is rare that parents take their own children to die along with them.
Normally children are taken from their families, indoctrinated or drugged, then forced to attack.
…
On Sunday, a mother targeted a church in Surabaya, alongside her two daughters, while the father and the two sons detonated bombs at two others.
The daughters were nine and 12 while the sons were aged 16 and 18.
…
The advantage for militant groups is that children are harder to detect for security forces. They generally arouse less suspicion than adults.
“The modus operandi of security officers is basically to look for a man carrying something suspicious,” agrees Mr Arifianto.
“But in the future, and maybe even the next days, police and security officers will also have to anticipate children being used in such attacks.”
While initially Islamist suicide attacks had been carried out by men, groups like the Taliban or Islamic State (IS) then moved on to also use women because they appeared less suspicious.
Once women suicide bombers became more common, the next step was to use children because, again, they were a group less likely to cause suspicion.
…
In the case of Indonesia, however, neither women nor children had been used in suicide attacks before.
“It’s exploiting the weakest point in our security systems,” Mr Sulaiman explains.
“People don’t expect that from children – and kids on their own or parents with kids are often not even properly checked by security.”
…
The reason why parents would have chosen to use their own children in the blasts remains puzzling to analysts.”
* * *
Security checks will have to change — perhaps TSA’s procedures are not overly cautious after all, just ahead of the times.
Puzzling to most of us, yes, but this reminds me of the lament attributed to Golda Meier about Israel and Palestine:
“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
Artfldgr:
Glad your niece is okay. But sorry about the sadness of your Mother’s Day.