Saturday, December 10, 2011

Mothers and Sons


The Sepia Saturday prompt for this week is a beautiful photograph of Princess Marie-Gabrielle of Bavaria in a loving embrace with her son Prince Luitpold taken sometime during the second decade of the twentieth century.   The prompt reminded me of all of the photo sessions I have had with my children through the years.   My husband and I both enjoy taking pictures of our children and I am convinced we have thoroughly documented each of their lives!  There were many photos of my son and I in our collection that I could have chosen to match what I saw as this week's theme:  the loving bond between mother and son.   Rather than look for a photo from my own life, I decided to look instead for a photograph of my father with  his mother.  My father was born in 1917, so a baby picture with his mother would represent a comparable era to the photo of this Bavarian Princess and her son and would thus be apropos.

My father's mother was the strength of his family.    Born in Tennessee in 1891, she  traveled west as a youngster with her family in a covered wagon pulled by oxen.   They settled in Oklahoma territory at the turn of the century living initially in a half-dugout earthen home as was common for folks in the area.  Like her father, she became a school teacher when she came of age, and continued a career in the classroom until she became too old to go on.   She and my grandfather were married in 1915.  While he took up farming initially, my grandfather later tried his hand at other businesses (insurance, construction, etc).  He was not a good businessman and did not manage money well over the years, which was most likely a strong factor in my grandparents' eventual separation.   My grandmother's teaching career became the sole source of income for the family.

My grandmother was not Bavarian and was definitely not a princess,  but she and my dad had a very strong and loving relationship throughout their lives.   He often talked of her with both pride and respect.   In his later years he wrote of her, "She had a tremendous love and loyalty to her family absolutely seeing and accepting no wrong in any family member."  He went on to say, "She possessed tremendous strength both physically, mentally and emotionally.  She was a fighter for her beliefs, stubborn in her thoughts, loyal church member, proud of community."  He concluded "one could only be proud to have her as a mother.  Hats off Mother, to a life well spent."

When I came across the photograph below I chuckled and thought it would be a perfect selection for this week's post.  It shows that while relationships can be strong and loving, there will always be little spats along the way.  Oh, what I would give to know how old he was and what restriction my grandmother may have placed on my father the day he did this:




Please click Sepia Saturday to visit the other posts for this week.

12 comments:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Wow. What a great story. At first, your Grandmother sounded a lot like Laura Ingalls, and then she began leaning to the woman that I wrote about in my post this week, Aunt Flora.

Thanks for sharing ... your Dad has a funny expression on his face in the photo; that is funny that he marked out her face.

Kathy M.

Postcardy said...

I'm not sure I understand. Those marks look too neat for a young child to make.

Nate Maas said...

You'll need to post another photograph of your grandmother so we can see what she looked like.

Bob Scotney said...

We have a few of our children's books left in the house more than one has the faces scribbled on.
I like nNate would like to see another photo of your grandmother.

Anonymous said...

Ah I was wondering where the photo was leading. Thank you for sharing about your family. I could see my own Father doing something like this, he was a naughty one from all the stories my mother has told as a boy. His mother was also a school teacher, sole supporter as his father died young, and my gma chose not to discipline my father for wrong doing because she considered him a miracle child and didnt want any regrets in life, as my mother put it. Yes I agree with the others, would love to see a photo of her since that one was scratched out. :)

Little Nell said...

Me too. I’d like to see her real face. I wonder if the perpetrator had regrets later.

Wendy said...

The picture is a funny little surprise after that story. I like it!

Unknown said...

It's a fascinating photo, I'm not sure whether it is funny or sad.

Tattered and Lost said...

Oh if this photo were to be found by a collector of disfigured shots it would be a real find.

Mike Brubaker said...

A beautiful photo for the additional art. There are several like these in my family for every generation. Do you think Princess Marie-Gabrielle had one like this from her son Luitpold?

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

The photo made me chuckle too, and for the same reasons. We have a few photos with parts torn off, where an offending face was removed. :)

tony said...

My Face Looks Like That All The Time!:)