"Do you think it would be alright if we put this picture on the wall?" he asked me.
I took the 8x10 sheet of paper he handed me. The photograph was an image of my mom and dad playing guitars at what looked like a music festival. My mom is looking at the camera, while my dad is concentrating on the notes he is playing. This picture got me to thinking. Of course my mom should be in this 'museum' of Wayne Henderson. I never really thought about it before, but looking through an entire box of similar photographs that Don found in the attic, I realized my parents had shared a life together that I don't know very much about. Most of the pictures are of them at various picking parties and festivals, but there are also some of my mom at work and in the kitchen cooking, and of my one year old self- in red footie pajamas that look pretty good right about now- wedged between the sink and the toilet, thinking I was helping my dad fix a leaky pipe.
I really enjoyed looking into their life before I was part of it. They were married for many years but divorced when I was very young, so even considering them as a married couple is an idea completely foreign to me. I loved seeing their shared musical interests, and then the ones where my dad is trying to incorporate himself into a non-guitar-playing world. In one photograph, he stands in front of a vast green field holding my mom's horse as she sits (with excellent posture) atop its shiny brown back, and there is another of them at what I am guessing is Ocracoke Island, where he looks excited to be fishing from the sandy beach. These are just a reminder of time gone by I guess, and that even as things change, or get older in my case as my birthday is tomorrow, life is to be cherished and appreciated while it lasts.
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| My favorite picture I found today. |
Merry Christmas Elle.
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