Gordon Family circa 1955

[jennickels]

My mom and her family Christmas 1955 (I think)
(l. to r. in the back) Howie, Grampa, Denny, Gramma holding Susie, Pat and Elaine
(in the front) Kitty, Glenna (my mom), Carol and Nora
(missing are Leroy and Shirley)

I got this off my cousin's facebook.  We have a copy of this photo in our house.  My mom kept it in the living room but I'm not sure where my dad has it.  He might have packed it away after she died or it was in his room.  I love my family to death.  My mom and her siblings did not have an easy life but they are/were all such amazing people.  So strong and loving despite their childhoods.

I don't actually believe in any kind of afterlife/heaven but I know my family does.  My mom did.  To those that have passed on: Shirley, Elaine, Leroy, Mom and Howie...I hope they've found whatever peace they thought would be there.  And to those of us left behind...((hugs)) as we find a way to move on without you in our lives.

[I'm crying now...damn, I miss my mom]

Comments

[thothmes.livejournal.com]

I saw both this and your earlier post. I'm so sorry. I remember hearing about his illness in an earlier post.

You're right. The way we pay for medical care in this country (or can't pay) is ridiculous.

Your mom was a total cutie. It's interesting to see her as a kid and in that photo you had of her with nine year old you. I totally picked her out in this photo, in spite of the change that the decades and the fashion changes brought.

Of course you miss her. You always will, because she was loved. That is, I think, the best tribute we can make to those that are gone, to miss them, always, and remember them.

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time talking about my mom's childhood. It wasn't pretty. The happy smiles in the photo seem...disingenuous. I'm sure they were happy that Christmas morning but it was a fleeting thing. My mom's childhood was filled with beatings, belittling and emotional abuse by her mother while her father (who she adored) stood back and allowed it to happen.

And, somehow, she came out of it to be an amazing, caring, giving person.
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/justanotherjen/2369859818/)
This is one of the only other pictures we have of my mom from her childhood. She was about 4 in this picture so around 1952. We also have one of her from the Christmas above with her sisters around a table and her 7th grade school photo but that's about it. Her parents never took pictures of her.

[thothmes.livejournal.com]

And, somehow, she came out of it to be an amazing, caring, giving person.

I have no doubt that a large part of that was the love, attention, and care she got from her sisters and brothers. Her dad may not have intervened to stop her mom, but if she adored him, he probably gave her the kind of love and attention she needed too, even it was only from time to time, it was clearly enough with the love of her siblings to get her through and let her become the mom she was for you.

Even with a loving, supportive family, and wonderful parents, the process of growing up is always hard. We tend to romanticize childhood in our heads, but if we are clear-sighted and honest, it is not the wonderful place we'd like to remember it as. As someone who has been involved with working with kids for many years, and who has been involved in the foster care system, I am continually amazed at the way some kids, who start out in the most awful circumstances can be resilient and rise above it all to become healthy, successful, and eminently sane, while some who have all the advantages can turn out very, very badly. How that is is one of life's great mysteries.

Your mom's life was too short, but it seems to me that she made a success of it, and used her time well, spreading love.

[anna-sg1.livejournal.com]

Awww, your mom looks so cute! I love old picures like these. I remember finding a few of my mom in high-school and it was so weird to see her at that age. But awesome. ♥

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I love old pictures, too. I have an album that is full of pictures of my dad's mom when she was a teen (in the roaring 20s...my gramma was a junior flapper, lol) and when my dad was a little boy in the late 40s/early 50s. They are great.

I have very few of my mom until she met my dad in the early 70s. My dad is a photographer so he took millions of pictures to make up for the lack of photos of her childhood.
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/justanotherjen/3063351317/)
This is one he took when they went camping (around 1971, I guess, so my mom was 23 or so)