MY GRANDDAUGHTER AND ME, "BRAGGIN RIGHTS." AND A LETTER

My granddaughter

I very seldom mention my grandchildren. They are all special to me. But I thought since my granddaughter is graduating this week from high school I would share a few things about her. 

So here goes my "braggin rights."She has had a successful tennis career so far. She recently was recruited by an eastern college to play on their college tennis team. Then she was accepted into their business school which is unusual for a student's first year of college where she is attending.

When she was six months old I was living a thousand or so miles from her. I sat down and wrote this letter to her. I knew she couldn't read it then but some day she could. 

I am still many hundreds of miles from her. 

So if you, my granddaughter are reading this post please read on -- it is the letter I wrote to you so long ago.

~ ~ ~

Today, I sit before a computer writing to you my six month old granddaughter wondering about our relationship, how we can connect together, you being so young and I much older with many miles between us. I want to be part of your life yet, for now it is not possible. Your mother and I have always been so close and she is so wonderful that I feel although I am not there with you she has enough of my love locked in her that she can share it with you.

How can we be soul mates? Fifty seven years lie between us. I ponder this dilemma and realize that we have collective philosophies contained within us established by the women in our blood lines that will surface with you in both small and grand ways. This will be our key to being soul mates. 

Perhaps when you make a decision to fight a battle based on intellectualism you will feel your strength arise from your family women source. Perhaps when you stand still on a hill feeling the wind drive hard against your young adult body you will know a sense of peace as family women felt on similar hills in previous generations.

Joy will come easy to you in small ways, laughter will spill out spontaneously, tears will come quickly over animals, small children and lost loves. We are an emotional bunch of women that dive into life with the zest of a marching band. We have gentle spirits and open hearts. So with this legacy you will be one with not only me but your grandmothers and great-grandmothers and back through all your family women of past generations. 

So when you find yourself sitting on that hillside feeling peace -- know that I along with all your family of women have silently gathered in spirit with you to soothe your soul.

~ ~ ~

OLD PHOTOGRAPH -- NOSTALGIA

Yesterday, I started going through my old paperwork in preparation of my move to Utah. 


Within my paper files I found two items that had slipped between some of my papers -- an old collar tag from a dog of long ago and some primitive drawings made by my young granddaughter.  These were nice finds and much beloved. I laid them aside to re-file later. Then I came upon an old school photo that had been missing for over twenty years. That photo is at the top of this post.


Someone's handwriting on the photo states, "Portland High",  and a date of 1895 which I take to be the year the photo was taken. Following this information are a few seemingly afterthought words --  "burned later." This is all that is revealed about the old school.


Now I never went to this school but I did at one time live in the charming town of Portland, Michigan where the school was once located. And while there, in my spare time, I became an antique photo collector.


There was a flea market in small town Portland that always had groups of old photos for sale. You know the ones that are going for high prices now. Well, I used to pick them up for fifty cents up to the grand sum of maybe three dollars. It was fun to peruse through all the old pics and get a glimpse of the culture that was current,  say in the mid to late 1800s -- dogs sitting on chairs, men in outdoor occupations, old store fronts, and circus performers from that bygone era. I even found a photo of the circus performers Tiny Tim and his wife with their signatures on the back of the cardboard backing. Little did I know that all of these photos would be so collectible in the future. 


Then I moved from this charming town. Far away to the west coast area. I carried my collection with me. 



After a few years I was in the throes of moving again. I cleaned out what I could live without and the photo collection was marked to sell. I sold them all to an antique dealer for what I paid for them. 

Many years later I became somewhat remorseful that I had parted with all of them -- not for the money sake but for their subject matter of common folkways. 

When I first found the above school photo in my papers yesterday,  I smiled -- it was the only one left from all that I had collected while living in Portland. Now, putting aside remorse,  it will serve as a reminder of the fun I once had collecting all those old photos of folks, animals and architecture of that long ago era.