Oh It's been Such a Long, Long Time...

A photo of a photo, but I'm not going to apologise.

I was mooching around Mam's the other night, as I am prone to do when I am there. She has three thousand five hundred albums of photos, and I do like to have a wee browse.

This one fell out of a little pocket album, and I stood mesmerized for a good five minutes while himself struggled to carry a mattress down the stairs (he thought I was carrying the other end).

I was about to steal it, ahead of when it becomes mine by default - (I wrote my name on the back of it ) - when I realised I could copy it, and keep a photo of my Da in my pocket where he should be.

He's been gone so long, that the memory of his face was starting to merge with Dad Mk2, they are actually so alike.

I was a Daddy's Girl. I happily wandered around the golf course with him, lugging his clubs while he practised for the 5th time that week, just to spend some time with him, talking nonsense. Afterwards, he would permit me to buy him a coffee in Togs, as repayment for allowing me to accompany him.

While we sat there he would reminisce about when he was my age and visited Togs too. Ladies of a certain age would should over "Hello Sonny", and he would nod in acknowledgement. He was too cool to speak.

I must be around 18 in this photo - I'm wearing my very favourite of the time boiler suit. It was grey with black. Am also wearing nail polish which I find amazing, because i didn't think I ever did.

I'm fascinated by how alike we are - there are so few of his contemporaries around now; there was a time when I would bump into Golfing Buddies, or work buddies and they would nod, and I knew they were looking at me and seeing ma Da.

I'm sad that he missed much more of my life, that he didn't meet Si; and that he didn't get to meet any of his Grandweans. He'd have loved them to pieces and been so proud of them all.

As it is, Me Mam gets all that joy and the pride, (and the stress and the worry)