A moment in Uncle Mac's viewfinder/eye; at lease a thousand words for each of us who sees the picture now!
For me some of the words are about my clenched jaw and the anxiety for the next moment I was feeling all over when the clench was on; some are about each of the others in the shot: how could I have missed knowing someone as interesting as Bill? Is that Doug or John? --looks so much like Doug but must be John. Is that Barb peeping? Why peeping? Mick looks the same as he did the last time I saw him, only about 15 years ago! It was perfectly normal to get way dressed up several times a year and hang out with all my relatives then, yet I never do anything like it now -- or since--except that I have just started doing it with my children and grandchildren! Hmmmm! And what is Louise thinking? I'll bet her kids could suggest an answer. Or could they? I now wonder if I really knew what my mother was thinking. And so forth . . . .
What do you think/feel?
And when was this? How about 1957? I know where it was!
3 comments:
I'm going to hazard a quess that it was probably about 1959. I would have been 12 years old then. I say it was at Louise & Mac's house & I'll even go as far as saying it was Thanksgiving. Just a feeling. That's John in the background and how about Fred (back then he was Freddie) - how much does he look like Opie from the Andy Griffith show? I wonder why Fred has his jaw clinched like that? The Hathaway jaw is something that has bothered me and I know it bothered my Dad. He was a jaw clincher (when sleeping too) and it has been a big problem for me. I'm a clincher too especially when I'm sleeping. Often waking up with huge headaches. I also have ringing in the ears which Moms had and I believe Louise did too. Do any of you cousins have the clinching &/or ear ringing problem?
We did do the 'dress up routine' for Thanksgiving & Christmas. I don't think I minded getting dressed up back then - but I absolutely don't like getting dressed up anymore. Give me a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and a pair of flip-flops. Getting dressed up now means putting long pants on.
Is anyone else going to take a guess at what year this picture was taken?
Marianne
As the one who probably scanned that slide, I can affirmatively say it was Thanksgiving, 1959, even though I wasn't there! Slide #32, I think!
When I first met the Wasson family, I thought it remarkable that Louise used to prepare dinner wearing high heels and pearls. At the time, I thought how wonderful --how June Cleaver like. (I was only 17, which may explain the comparison!) I later wondered if she ever did "let down her hair." In fact, years later, while on a boat headed to Catalina Island with all of the Wassons (1988, I think) Louise wore a knit suit and heels.
Was everyone more formal then? Take a look at photos taken at a USC football game in 1964 --the whole group wore suits. So maybe...maybe, Thanksgiving and Christmas weren't the only dress up routines --maybe all of life was more formal. I'm with you, Marianne: I'm far more comfortable in jeans and a knit top. And maybe in letting go of our formality in clothing, we reveal more of ourselves, we're more candid, we let the jaw go slack and let be. Or maybe it's 1:40 in the morning, and I'm full of jibberish! ;-) Cyndi
You have to have some compelling reason other than comfort to want to wear a wool suit or tight collar! We don't have one anymore, but I sure did when my mom said, "We're going to Nanny and Dad's this afternoon, so you have to put on your suit!" Honoring the grandparents' idea of "right for the occassion" is still important (I still feel it), but fortunately what is "right" is very much easier. Or so I think, but I'm the grandparent, and I'm sure Dad didn't think it unbearably burdensome to put on a suit!
70% of Americans clench their teeth at night, according to an exhaustive article in the NY Times last week. Daylight clenching is a response to stress. In 1959 I started having migraines twice a week and my hands started shaking, parts of the clenching syndrome, now under control. But the whole feeling of it comes back on seeing this picture--along with a lot of good memories of family get-togethers.
Post a Comment