I was looking through some old photos and I came across a photo of my Grandma Jo and her sister Mary. The odd thing about this photo is that it is ripped.

I don’t know when that happened, probably a long time ago, but I have the photo and I thought I say something about my relatives.

Notice that both women are wearing hats. It was what women did back in the old days. Things changed after the Catholic church didn’t require hats at mass.

I loved both these ladies. Grandma Jo was the best cook ever. She even made wedding cakes. One time, when I was about ten, I helped take a cake to a reception. I don’t know how the large part of the cake was moved, but I was sat down in the back seat of a car and handed the top tier of the cake.

This was a great responsibility and I was scared to death that I’d ruin her beautiful cake. I guess the cake arrived in good condition because I don’t remember getting yelled at for messing up.

Aunt Mary and her husband, Val, always wanted to adopt me, and they weren’t kidding. They couldn’t have children so they pestered my parents to let them have me or my sister–Mary and Val never adopted anyone.

I remember going to their home and having orange juice (and other snacks). I especially remember the orange juice because Aunt Mary had little glasses and a pitcher with oranges painted on them. It made me feel so special drinking juice out of those glasses.

When both Grandma Jo and Aunt Mary were old, they lived together for a while–I don’t remember how long. What I do remember was that the two women sounded like my sister and me. They didn’t always agree and argued some. Hearing those two ‘saints’ disagree made me laugh. They seemed so much more human to me at those times.

I don’t know where this photo was taken or when, but I’m happy that it wasn’t thrown away. There are still good memories there to go around.

Saving a little family history doesn’t have to be long or hard. Even a snippet like this has its benefits.

Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved