When my mom turned 50 a few years back, we decided to have a big party to celebrate. It wasn’t a surprise party (pulling off such a thing for my mom would be huge), but one of the elements that I wanted to be a surprise was a slide show. For any pictures taken in the last two or three years, putting together a slide show would mean spending hours poring over all my pictures that I have stored on my computer, selecting suitable ones and uploading them to any number of slide show creating programs. However if you want to celebrate the life of someone who is fifty years old, you will have to go digging into old photographs. Pictures taken back in the day where people used negatives.

I was responsible for finding pictures and anyone who can look through a box of photographs efficiently has powers of focus that I was not born with. Even if you know you’re looking for pictures from 1988, how can you not get sucked into looking at the pictures in that envelope labeled 1992 or 1979, back when you were just a twinkle in your parents’ eyes (if that)?

Today I’m going share two pictures of my mom taken in the last 15 years that give a snapshot of the sort of person she is.

My mom is an expressive woman: whether she’s singing “Take me out to the ballgame” with the wrong words while watching a baseball game, or cheering for the only hockey team worth anything in her eyes (Go Sens Go!), you can always tell how she feels. Her default facial expression is a smile, which is in contrast to my more sober-minded father. When I see pictures of her, I can’t help but smile because she always seems to be enjoying herself so much.

With my sister on the right

I love this picture: they happened to be wearing the same outfit so I had to run and get my camera. Not surprisingly, the pose was my mom’s idea. Doesn’t she look so happy to be alive?

With me on the right

My mom and I don’t often take pictures together unless I’m graduating or in a wedding it seems, so when I came across this picture it was a pleasant surprise. I have no idea what’s going on in this picture (besides the fact that I’m listening to my Sony Walkman—that Walkman was an appendage of mine until I threw it down the stairs accidentally): perhaps the photographer told us to “look natural”, perhaps I told my mom to pretend to be talking to me. I’d like to think that what was captured instead was a mother-daughter moment (although how much bonding I could be doing with those headphones on is questionable).

I was one of the worst dressed teens I know, a claim that deserves its own entry. I wore palazzo pants. I wore men’s t-shirts. And apparently I wore broomstick skirts. I’m not sure if those were 90s things that everyone did or if I was just uncool.

Other things to note:

• this was back when my mom used to braid my hair. I remember the nights she’d stay up late redoing my braids so I wouldn’t look so scruffy haired. I took those braids for granted and I don’t recall ever taking a picture of my head to showcase the hair do. I need to go back to the boxes of photographs and see if I can find any decent pictures of my braided hair.
• my superthick lenses. I don’t seem to care now but soon after this I would refuse to sit or stand at a right angle to anybody, lest they see the thickness of my glasses.
• I didn’t inherit my mom’s sense of style. My mother wears mascara, eyeliner and lipstick nearly every day. Nowadays she will go out without makeup on but she always has it with her to reapply later. I never picked up any of these skills from her.

My mom has had several serious health challenges, but she still manages to serve and support others so ably. She play wrestles with my brothers. She leaps on me on my bed if I’m in a bad mood and I holed out there. Even though her day job is full of unpleasant coworkers and the long hours on her feet tire her out, she greets each customer with a brilliant smile and so much joy in her voice. She’s an amazing woman.

Filed under: Family, NaBloPoMo by jummy