I could talk about....

Dear Diary,

I thought I would try one of my favorite exercises with an old photograph, the one I learned in my on-line course Honoring Ancestors last November.  In the course we were asked to find an old photograph and complete this sentence; "I could talk about..." several times.  I've done this once before, during the course.  So, here it goes...

I could talk about Mary, my favorite cousin who I thought was the most beautiful person I knew. (She's 17 here.)
I could talk about the dress which she gave me to wear to my junior high semi-formal dance.  I felt like a princess.
I could talk about the painting which always captivated me and which now hangs over my fireplace mantle.
I could talk about the piano which I learned to play chopsticks on taught to me by a fore mentioned Mary.  I always wished I could play, my mother and grandmother could play, but we never had a piano at home so I would practice here at my aunt's home...a place that felt as much like home as my own.

This is really a fun exercise to do with an old photograph.  You never know what will come to mind like when my father finally bought a small electric organ for our house and I was at last able to practice at home.  I never mastered it alas.  I will need to leave that for my next life.

Right now, this photograph makes me think about the difficult life Mary ended up having; all the heartbreak. One could never have predicted it looking at this photograph.  Her son’s death this past June of ALS at the young age of 52 was just the latest tragedy to touch her life but she was always the most resilient and positive person I’ve ever known and I have always tried to have that same attitude in my life.  Perhaps that was an even greater gift than the piano lessons and the dress.