My Parents at the Age My Daughter is Now
I recently contemplated what it was like for my parents when they were the same age that I am now. But then I came across some old Kodachrome slides, wrapped in a little cardboard box in a waxed paper sleeve. They were old. Way before my time kind of old.
I brought them to a photo processing lab and picked them up this afternoon. The images stunned me: so bright and sharp, as if they were taken today.
My mother didn’t have a lot to say about them. She said, “Oh yeah, we liked to go to parks after church. Mas always had his camera.” She said this was most likely taken in Central Park.
I see their hands all entwined. By the time I was in the family and conscious of such things, this wasn’t happening so much anymore. He always still had a camera with him a lot of the time. She would have been 25 here, the same age as one of my daughters. I think about being so young, in a fresh new relationship. Her bright red suit and lipstick. How she rolled up her hair. I’m kind of blown away by his pinstripe suit and polka dot tie. My young parents! They had no idea what would happen to them. He was about to go to war in Italy. They would be married two years later. I wouldn’t come on the scene for another 14 years. Did they know they’d be married for 53 years?
How young they are. Just like another photo that a friend recently gave me, from when I was that young.
We don’t know anything but the moment we’re in. We don’t know anything except what it is to be young. We really can’t fathom what the coming years can bring: heartbreak, loss, having children, grandchildren. Losing each other. Losing ourselves.
Today I took my mother to a memorial service for a friend of hers. They played that old song, Turn! Turn! Turn! based on the verses from Ecclesiastes.
To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
We left the service and picked up these photos. And never had that turning seemed so real.
