I like to revisit the past as much as I love thinking about my future as much as I am in complete and utter adoration of my present.
I was flipping through an old book my mom brought out and found my breath taken away by this collection of photos of the grandmother I am named for, Virginia. I love everything about it, from her hair and hat, to the gentle way that she must have had that smile spread across her face as the camera flashed. I wonder what she was thinking. I wonder if she knew how beautiful she was. I wonder if she knew that she would one day have a granddaughter like me. I wonder if she knew how far reaching her life and actions would have on so many different parts of the world as her children and grandchildren have given service and love across the globe from England to Hong Kong to Samoa to Africa to Brazil...
Can any of us truly know the times and seasons of the moments we are living and breathing?
"All that you have of body and mind will be transmitted through you to the generations yet to come."
Gordon B. Hinckley
19 comments:
You know, I wonder if YOU realize how beautiful and amazing YOU truly are... :)
All I have to do, cuz, is look at the photos of me in my mustache to remember!
You have a BLOG!
Praise the heavens I can't wait to read all about your adventures. Are you still going to Australia?
What a beautiful post.
I'm going to visit my grandma this afternoon, so this is very timely for me.
I love my grandma (it helps that she adores me) and hope she sticks around for a long time.
I'll have to see if I can find some photos of her to frame in my home.
So beautiful! What a legacy your grandma has left behind. You truly are beautiful my friend.
Isn't it fun to think about generations past?
My mother's mother (who I never knew... she died when my mom was a teen) was apparently a VERY vivacious woman. I've gotten to know her (as well as I can) through photos, snippets, etc from when she was a COLLEGE student (rare indeed for a woman in the 1920's!). But I've spent much time wondering if she and I had been contemporaries, would we have been close friends? Would we have laughed at the same things? Thought the same boys were cute? Studied the same subjects? And did she wonder about the kind of grand-children she would have one day.....?
That circle of life is very interesting to me... always has been, but especially so once I became a mother. I look VERY forward to the day that the thin veil between this world and the eternal world is lifted, and I get to meet her and all my other relatives that have departed. I think it will be wonderful to truly get to know them!
(On a related note: Boquinha had a wonderful post - somewhat related to this - about how her family tree is a "wreath"....)
Awesome. I love those pictures. I have to say, your ancestor is much more attractive than mine. Some of my female ancestors were uglier than their bearded husbands. NOT kidding.
(PS I probably should not have said that. Maybe when I die, my ancestors will all gang up angrily on me for saying such things.)
(PPS Maybe my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will say the same thing about me after I am dead, and I'll be up in heaven getting all offended with the rest of my ancestors.)
She is gorgeous! And I have to say, I do see a flair of her in you. Isn't it amazing to see your ancestors as actual people and not just a relation/name? I remember finding pictures of my grandmother as a young woman and being taken aback by the realization that she was someone other than "just" my grandmother.
I agree ladies, the realization of the people who lived full lives before you and through whom you owe your very being to.
It's deep.
And Jenn, I'm sure in heaven well ALL be beautiful and not shallow, at least, I'm hoping the emphasis on physical beauty will finally come to some type of resolution.
What a beautiful, moving post...
You can see the smile dawning acrossing her face...
Like a soft sun,
Truly the moments, the seasons have wider, broader lives than we can ever imagine...
If only we could learn to untie the ribbons of each painted moment,
Each unmerited gift of grace that has been placed at our feet this day,
Thank you my friend for this beautiful reminder,
Much love and soft light, M
Lovely ancestor and lovely descendant. Thank you for sharing. And, HWHL, thanks for the shout out!! I'm calling that post my Magnum Opus (so far anyway). :P
She's beautiful D'Arce, I can see you in those photos.
I love those photos of Virginia.
Her eyes are amazing. She possesses an understated elegance. She lives within you.
No, I don't think we can, but isn't that what's so amazing about life? I think that's the beauty in growing old -- getting to look back and reflect and appreciate. All that other stuff (wrinkles, whatever) is silly.
Kia ora D'Arcy,
She is beautiful and so radiating class and elegance. In the genes.
The moments are now. As Van wrote, "These are the Days of the endless summer".
Aroha,
Robb
Thank you all for the comments. I've been trying to think of my grandmother by her name.
Virginia Peterson Davis
I've been trying not to just think of her as "my grandmother"
I've been wondering what it was like to marry at 29 in that day and age (so many thought her a spinster for life!)
I've been wondering what it must have been like to live on a farm, to give birth to eleven children and watch two of them die and become a stepmother to three more.
I've been wondering what it would be like to raise my mother. To see my mother as a young girl reading and farming and laughing and working.
And yes, I've been channeling her courage and faith into my present moment.
love to all of you!
i wonder often what people think in pictures. this actually reminds me of this study they did on senior yearbook pictures.. where the people who had genuine smiles were indeed happier later in life than people who weren't smiling. from this picture, i can only imagine your grandmother had a happy, fulfilled life!
floreta,
I LOVE that idea. I am always interested in various studies, but to conduct a studie on the sincereity of a smile is one of those ideas that makes you think.
I believe that we are all capable of sincerely being happy if we can just realize that it NEVER comes from an outside source, but always an inside well, and mine runs deep.
Can we know those moments and experience them at the same time?
I think about this every day. I used to be afraid to think of my mortality, but now I dream of the thread of life I'll leave behind in amazing children and grandchildren I have yet to meet but already love.
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