pete

when i was growing up,we had a big brown photo album filled with family pictures. some were formal studio shots and some were snapshots taken on an old brownie.

one of the first photos in the big book was a studio shot of me, my mom and my dad. followed by more studio shots of me and my sister posed and looking adorable. wearing seersucker summer suits and pony tails, wearing red velvet christmas dresses with satin bow’s.

long before the days of “scrap booking” my mom would identify who and what were in the photos in her graceful left handed cursive. being the oldest, there are more photos of me than of my sister or brother.

there ase so many i love: a series of me with my grandmother- we are sitting on a blanket in the summer. i am chewing on a string of teething beads sporting a cupie curl on top of my head. a set of all three of us poised on a chair, holding our kitten “clyde” the vestiges of serious tears streaking faces. we have matching dresses and pixie cuts. one of the most interesting is a shot of me and my sister in the bathtub. we are both posing with our rubber toys-hers looks like a frog or duck and mine is a tiny nurse.

there are photos of me with the grandpa green who died when i was six. in one i am about 15 months old, sitting on his lap clad in t shirt and diaper. we are in a shinny leatherette chair, he is unshaved and wearing a wife beater t-shirt. i am unsure whether i remember him or if i have created memories of him based on the photos in the album.

i’m sure that i don’t really remember “pete” but these photos show me at about the age of two looking delightfully happy with my pal at our house in pullman.

a few years ago my mom presented them to me for christmas in a little frame, i have them on a shelf in the living room next to the photos of ruby and hazel. reminding me that childhood is precious and memories are made many ways.