Last month, my parents embarked on their annual motorcycle rally. Parents meaning dad and step mom- but she is such a valuable part of my life- that the "step" part of her title has been long removed. (The explanation is necessary to the rest of the story.)This year, the destination was Santa Fe, NM. Fortunately for me, this was not far from family in Colorado, so they added an additional leg to there trip. The value of this was that my dad was able to visit with family from my "real" mother's side of the family, and get copies of old photos and documents to add to his genealogy research.
The importance of this to me, was that I had never, to my own recollection, seen a picture of my mother when she was a child. She passed away 13 years ago, so as I get older and as my daughter gets older, I can't help but focus on how removed I am from who my mom was as a child. Well, Dad was able to bring back pictures from his visit with my uncle. I sat down and went through them on the computer with him and couldn't help but tear up at the sight of the little girl that I had only ever known as "Mommy". The reminder that she was someones little girl, that my grandparents loved her and protected her as we do our little Ali, was overwhelming.
The uplifting part of this experience- and I promise, there is one- is seeing the resemblance that my daughter has to my mom!! My mom is in the back left portion of this picture. She was most likely two or three years old, making the photo from approximately early 1957. Ali is three and a half in the picture above!
I know that my mom lives on in her three granddaughters, all of which were born after her passing. I am confident that she blessed them all and kissed them gently before they entered this world. I know that God needed her with him to be their guardian angel, as she would not have been able to do so if she was still here with us. I cannot wait to see as each of them get older, which part of mom's personality then inhabit!
