5.07.2011

Day 19 ~ 30 Day Photo Challenge

Day19
A picture and a letter


WOW ... if I knew several years ago that I was going to be doing this challenge ...I'd have the perfect letter. BUT ... I'll tell you about that letter at the end of this post.



This is a picture of my Dad. 

At the age of 17 ( in the 50's), my Mother was a teenager who was pregnant with her first child. She did marry the young man who was my father, but his family was not happy about it and they were divorced.

I'm not sure how long my parents knew each other before they got married. I do know my Dad was in the Army, stationed in Tucson, Arizona where my Mom lived with her parents, younger brother, and me. My parents met working at a small "drive in " type restaurant  called "The Lucky Wishbone."  (The actual location where they worked no longer exists, BUT  there are several "Lucky Wishbones" in the Tucson area and I make sure I stop in for dinner whenever I'm there.) 
My parents were married just after my 3rd birthday and for a short time my Mom and me lived in Arizona while my Dad was stationed in Illinois. This picture is of a box of letters my Dad wrote to my Mom. Some are before they were married, some are after they were married. This letter, dated April 11, 1961 talks about forms for income taxes and about us moving to Illinois. It's strange think that my parents had such struggles in their life. After all, growing up, I felt like my parents had it all under control. 
This box of letters was found after my Dad passed away in 1994. Even though I have looked at them and through them, I have read few of them and never a whole letter. But what I have read and what I witnessed in their lives ...I know my parents loved each other deeply and that's all I really need to know.

The other letter... I one I wish I still had. It was a letter written by my oldest Daughter to my Dad. She was 11 or 12 years old. In the letter she was telling her Grandfather what terrible parents she had. She was pleading a case to get a phone in her room (no such thing as cell phones ) and her parents were not going along with it. 
I found that letter, several years later in my Dad's things, after He had passed away. For her 24th birthday I framed it with a picture of  them when she was about the age that she had written it.


5 comments:

Quiltingranny said...

Sooooooo funny and I am a terrible grandparent because I won't let my grands have cell phone service! Did either of your parents remarry Vicki?
So sad when family tears 2 people apart!

Vicki said...

My Mom married my Dad (stepfather, who adopted me) when I was 3. She passed away 4 years before he did, at the ripe old age of 49.

My birth father remarried and lives in Arizona. I have never had contact with him. I know people who know him and his family. He has 5 children and I am told that his wife is the person who has kept him from having contact with me.

An Oasis in the Desert said...

That is so sad, but it sounds like you had a great relationship with you stepdad. The story of the letter your daughter wrote to her granddad was so cute.
Hope you've had a wonderful Mother's Day.

An Oasis in the Desert said...

That is so sad, but it sounds like you had a great relationship with you stepdad. The story of the letter your daughter wrote to her granddad was so cute.
Hope you've had a wonderful Mother's Day.

HeARTworks said...

Your daughter's letter to your dad is hilarious! I can just imagine her! Thanks for sharing your interesting story. What a family your birth dad has! Patsy from
HeARTworks